Matt Turner is reportedly set to become the next U.S. men’s national team player on his way to Europe after agreeing to terms with one of the England’s most historic clubs.
Turner is finalizing a transfer to English Premier League club Arsenal, ESPN reported on Thursday. The New England Revolution will receive a $6 million transfer fee from the Gunners, which could increase to $10 million with add-ons, according to the report.
Turner would remain with the Revs until the summer, before he would leave for the start of the English Premier League season.
The New Jersey native enjoyed a breakout first year for the USMNT in 2021, helping Gregg Berhalter’s side win the Concacaf Gold Cup and also finishing as the tournament’s best goalkeeper and earning a spot on the Gold Cup Best XI. Turner totaled 13 appearances for the USMNT in 2021, breaking Kasey Keller’s record for shutouts in a calendar year with nine.
Turner has become one of the top goalkeepers in MLS since becoming the starter in New England in 2018. The former Fairfield University starter made 101 saves in 35 regular season appearances for the Revs, winning the league’s Goalkeeper of the Year award, and leading the Revs to the MLS Supporters’ Shield during a record-setting season.
Arsenal currently has Aaron Ramsdale as its No. 1 goalkeeper, with Bernd Leno set to leave the club this winter. Leno has been linked with a loan move to Newcastle United after falling in the pecking order at the Emirates Stadium.
Turner is currently with the USMNT ahead of its World Cup Qualifier on Thursday night against El Salvador, and is expected to start in place of Zack Steffen, who is out with back stiffness.
How does this make sense? Even if Leno leaves he’s behind a more established name. You really wanna leave to be a #2 at Arsenal? Arsenal? Seriously?
This as a calculated gamble by Matt to take advantage of the best run of form he’s ever had. The Arsenal move is a chance to maximize this run.
1. Matt may never have a better year in his career. The Arsenal offer may be the best offer he ever gets in his career.
He makes 375 K/year. The average keeper salary in the EPL is 2.01 million dollars/year. You can check my math but that’s a little over 5 times what he makes now.
2. Even with Matt’s stellar form, he’s still not the # 1 USMNT keeper. Teacher’s pet Steffen is. Barring injury, Turner probably does not play one minute if they get to Qatar.
If he stays with the Revs, could Matt win the #1 job? Steffen is notoriously brittle, and odds are reasonable that something happens to Zack between now and Qatar. But that’s pretty sketchy. And anyone thinking Matt can impress the world into an even better job offer by doing nothing in Qatar is taking a huge risk. So Matt has to do something more.
3. The Arsenal move is the “something more”.
Arsenal is signing him to press Ramsdale. Which theoretically means Matt becomes like Zack, a backup and a Cup keeper.
The difference is Ramsdale is not Ederson. Ederson is a phenom. Ramsdale is another overrated English keeper who if he were American would be in Belgium backing up Mignolet.
In other words, Matt has a better chance of beating out Ramsdale than Zack has of beating out Ederson. And if he does that he’ll have a better chance of playing more than 5 minutes in Qatar.
The question is, who is more biased and prejudiced, Arsenal for the English kid? Or this USMNT manager for one of his Columbus core teacher’s pets?
Turner is no dummy, he knows what he’s got in this manager. Taking the Arsenal #1 job will give him the kind of hammer that can work on the image conscious USMNT manager.
And Matt can make maybe 5 times more money in the process.
It’s a ballsy, risky move but a smart one, even if he does not beat out the Teacher’s pet syndrome.
MLS is a dead end for Turner. He knows he can always retire here.
If he doesn’t end up getting sold or lent to Brugge, they should trade for Chris Brady. Fire have a goalie ..and that’s about it. Win win for all.
Or maybe he wins the job. Despite his age I think there’s some upside there to get. He was really, really late to soccer.
He’s our best shot-stopper – notably better than Steffen – he just doesn’t play well (at all!) out of the back. If he can get more comfortable and adept with the ball at his feet – and I think he can – I think he could be a Top-20 or even Top-10 keeper in the world. His shot-stopping ability is definitely that good.
“He’s our best shot-stopper – notably better than Steffen – he just doesn’t play well (at all!) out of the back.”
That’s recency bias and hyperbole.
Recency bias because Matt’s played a lot more for the USMNT than Steffen recently so it’s easy to exaggerate his shot stopping magic. And easy to forget that Steffen was signed by Man City in part because he is a fantastic shot stopper and he proved it during his loan at Fortuna D. I saw a number of those games and Zack’s shot stopping was insane.
Recency bias is a big deal with USMT fans. I am old enough to remember when USMNT fans thought Pulisic was a good player.
Hyperbole because Zack did his shot stopping vs BL and EPL players while Matt did his against CONCACAF players. There is a qualitative difference.
“he just doesn’t play well (at all!) out of the back.”
You say that like it doesn’t matter.
It does, even though it’s not all his fault. A lot of it is the USMNT as a team suck at it.
In other words , if Ederson were American the USMNT would still have problems getting the ball out of the back cleanly. I will be fascinated to see if his distribution improves suddenly and dramatically at Arsenal. If it doesn’t he will eventually be known as the new Polar Bear. Guzan had the same tag, poor distribution, great shot stopper at Aston Villa. Eventually it helped drive him out of there, even though he probably single handedly saved them from relegation one year.
Steffen is the #1 keeper because, if he’s fit and healthy, the manager is starting him. That’s the definition of a #1 keeper. Is the manager prejudiced and does he play favorites? You betcha but no one cares anymore.
Matt is admirable and is the better under dog story but I rate the two equal. They are both flawed but are good enough for the USMNT. Friedel, Keller and Howard ain’t walking through that door anytime soon.