Lucy Nicholson/Reuters The Galaxy stars in happier times on the field.

It’s doubtful that Landon Donovan will be hosting a welcome-back dinner at Mastro’s Steakhouse in Beverly Hills for Galaxy teammate David Beckham when the Englishman returns to Los Angeles this month.

In a new book, the U.S. forward, fresh off a stellar performance in the Confederations Cup, questioned Beckham’s commitment, his leadership and his motivation for playing soccer in the United States.

“When David first came, I believed he was committed to what he was doing,” Donovan is quoted in “The Beckham Experiment,” by Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl. “He cared. He wanted to do well. He wanted the team and the league to do well.”

But something changed, according to Donovan, and Beckham decided soon after former coach Ruud Gullit was fired that it wasn’t worth his time. “He just flipped a switch and said, ‘Uh-huh, I’m not doing it anymore’.”

“I can’t think of another guy where I’d say he wasn’t a good team-mate, he didn’t give everything through all this, he didn’t still care,” Donovan said. “But with (Beckham), I’d say no, he wasn’t committed.”

The relationship between the league’s two biggest stars appeared amiable in public — based on mutual respect between two professionals — but was rife with tension, some jealousy and suspicion, according to Wahl’s account, due out July 14 and excerpted on Sports Illustrated’s Web site.

The relationship between Major League Soccer’s most expensive player and its most successful American star got off to a rocky start when Donovan was pressured to give up the captain’s armband to his new teammate.

“Let him be the captain; you be the star,” the team’s former general manager Alexi Lalas reportedly told Donovan at the time. But what the club’s brass did not tell Donovan, according to Wahl, was that the request didn’t come from the team’s leadership, but from Beckham’s camp.

“He didn’t have a problem with someone else being captain, least of all a player with Beckham’s credentials, but he did have an acute sense of being disrespected,” writes Wahl.

That feeling, and questions about Beckham’s attitude, persisted as Donovan grew weary with his teammate and Beckham grew weary of Major League Soccer.

When Beckham bailed for AC Milan in a dramatically orchestrated loan deal, Donovan was left with a team bereft of talent. With Beckham’s return scheduled for July 16 — in New Jersey against the Red Bulls — one has to wonder: How will the two get on after Donovan’s feelings were made public

“Donovan had wanted the Beckham Experiment to work, and there was no reason in his mind that it still couldn’t be successful in 2009,” Wahl writes. “But not if Beckham continued acting the way he had during the last half of 2008.”

Beckham wasn’t a good teammate in Donovan’s view, and should be benched if his attitude does not improve when he returns from Milan. “If that’s the way he’s going to be, fine, then hold him accountable. Bench him. Just say, ‘We’re not going to play you, we don’t think you’re committed,’ ” Donovan said.

And though Wahl writes that Donovan leaves open the possibility that the team’s two best players can salvage their relationship, it does not seem likely. “Let’s say he does stay here three more years,” Donovan said. “I’m not going to spend the next three years of my life doing it this way.”

“I don’t want to have soccer be this way,” he added.

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