This must be a time of some anxiety for Landon Donovan.

The top scorer in the history of the U.S. national team, as well as Major League Soccer, is thought to be on the verge of extending his playing career with MLS side Real Salt Lake.

But it has been nearly a month since it was reported that RLS had offered him a contract, and that a decision was “imminent”.

That was on December 29.

And still he waits.

Donovan is 34. He will be 35 in March. That is a fairly advanced age for an attacking player, and it is not at all clear he has lots of job opportunities as a player, beyond Real Salt Lake.

The L.A. Galaxy brought him back for the final few months of the 2016 season, and Donovan conceded he was not in the sort of physical condition he would have hoped.

Things like that happen when you are 34 and carrying a career of physical insults to the body, particularly in the lower body.

So it seemed plausible, back on December 6, that the Galaxy knew what it was talking about when it said Donovan would retire.

Apparently, that was the Galaxy’s take on his career options, and not Donovan’s. (The club apparently believes that Jermaine Jones, who is four months older then Donovan, is an answer in midfield.)

Media outlets in Utah have reported that Donovan is still being considered by Real Salt Lake, with the proviso that “it’s complicated.”

The complications come from the MLS central ownership model, which circumscribes the actions a club can take, when it comes to adding players. This isn’t England, where clubs can spend as much money as they want — sometimes spending money they don’t quite have.

MLS clubs need to fit their teams into tidy salary niches, with their flexibility coming in the area of designated players, who can be paid outside the league-wide club salary cap ($3.7 million for the 2017 season), and “international” roster spots.

Getting Donovan to fit into the proper roster spot apparently is the issue, with the RSL trying to work it through the league office.

Several media outlets in Utah reported RSL and Donovan had finished the deal, but general manager Craig Waibel knocked that down today, saying in Utah: “There are so many details that go into any contract that it’s far from done — I wish the people that wrote fiction were right, because that means he’d be with us already.”

Presumably, this can’t go on much longer. RSL players are expected to report to their Rio Tinto base this weekend, and they will want to have Donovan working on his conditioning as soon as possible.

Meantime, Donovan waits to see if he will have another chapter in his career as a professional soccer player.