He tried to make it twice at Leverkusen and once at Bayern, at age 19, 22 and 26, between those three attempts he made the starting lineup once and played 300 minutes. He just wasn't a particularly good player and him suggesting that he just wasn't bothered, when he made five moves to Europe sounds quite interesting.
This is a bit misleading. He joined Leverkusen at the age of 19, and never settled. He was allowed frequent trips back to the US due to homesickness and allowed to leave to the US on loan. After a few years of being loaned, he returned to Leverkusen and almost immediately requested to be transferred. Despite concrete interest from PL clubs he opted to return to the US.
Yes, he joined Bayern at 26, on loan. This had nothing to do with him trying to make it in Europe, but the fact that there's no MLS during the periods when he went out on loan. It's the same reason he spent a couple winters at Everton.
He was obviously good enough to play in Europe, and it's clear he struggled to adapt to living outside of the US. So I'm not sure what is wrong with what he said?