The departure of Keylor Navas this summer forced Steve Cooper and Nottingham Forest to look everywhere for a new No. 1 goalkeeper, and although their acquisitions might not yet be done, Matt Turner’s move to the club is a great move for both parties.
Turner signed a four-year contract with Nottingham Forest on Wednesday, ending his one-year stay with fellow English Premier League club Arsenal. The former undrafted MLS goalkeeper had been linked with Forest over recent weeks and officially earned his move to the City Ground just three days ahead of the club’s season-opener.
With Aaron Ramsdale manning the No. 1 spot at the Emirates last season, Turner was reduced to only seven appearances for the Gunners in the UEFA Europa League and FA Cup competitions. Turner impressed in those appearances, registering four clean sheets and helping the Gunners advance to the knockout stage of the European tournament.
However, Arsenal’s latest deal for Brentford’s David Raya would’ve moved Turner down the pecking order in Mikel Arteta’s squad, which isn’t ideal for the USMNT’s No. 1. Now Turner has a great opportunity to fight for the starting job in Steve Cooper’s squad and continue earning reps in a top-five league.
“When I heard that there was interest to bring me here, it just felt right for my family, it felt right when my agent spoke to me about it and it feels like the right move for me right now,” Turner said in a club interview.
“The manager and the backroom staff, everything about the club has a little sparkle to it. It’s felt right from the start and I’m happy it’s got done,” he added.
Nottingham Forest has veteran Wayne Hennessey under contract this season, as well as fellow American goalkeeper Ethan Horvath. The 35-year-old Hennessey will likely serve as a key veteran in Turner’s development at the club, while Horvath has previously been linked with a summer move of his own.
Dean Henderson and Kasper Schmeichel have both been linked with moves to Nottingham Forest and could add competition if those moves come to fruition. Schmeichel would bring ample years of experience to the group while Henderson made 20 appearances on loan last season with the club.
Turner has rapidly grown into a rising talent within the USMNT program, making the most of his MLS opportunities with the New England Revolution. After lifting a Supporters’ Shield in 2020 and holding the USMNT’s No. 1 job at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Turner will be eager to help Nottingham Forest avoid a relegation fight this season and take another major step forward in their return to the top flight.
Although relegation worries could creep in during the 2023-24 campaign, both the ups-and-downs will help Turner in what hopefully is a long-term stay in England and Europe.
“It feels great to be here,” Turner said. “It’s something I’m really looking forward to, it’s a great challenge and a great step in my career. I’m looking forward to making a connection with my teammates, the fans and the city.
“The expectation they [the fans] can have is that I’m going to go out there every single day in training, every single time I step onto the pitch, I’m going to wear my heart on my sleeve and give it my absolute all,” he added.
Leeds was 19th out of 20…their total payroll last season was just £20.8 million ($26.45 million US.) This, incidentally, was almost exactly what Toronto FC – the highest-spending team in MLS for the 2022-2023 season – spent on their own payroll.
Leceister had less excuse – their payroll was £59 million, more than double what Leeds spent, which put them at 13th in Premier League spending last season. There’s a very big caveat to that, though – their top-paid guys weren’t just old last year, they were also abysmal. Leceister was pouring money down the drain – they spent £7.2 million on 35-year-old Jamie Vardy, £5.2 million on 34-year-old Johnny Evans, and £4.1 million on 33-year old Ryan Bertrand.
Vardy’s production absolutely collapsed last year – just 3 goals and 4 assists in 37 matches. Jonny Evans made just 14 appearances and was out for months at a time with thigh and calf injuries. Transfermarkt now has Ryan Bertrand’s transfer value at just £800,000…and he’s still without a club, which gives you some idea of how his 2022-2023 season went.
Your soccernomics tangent makes a lot of sense but it is not exactly 100% in every case.
Having a lot of money and a willingness to spend it guarantees nothing other than the likelihood that you have more chances to get it right.
You have to spend wisely.
With my perfect hindsight it’s clear that Leicester did not have the right roster and worse, did not have the management and staff to properly manage their roster over the course of the year.
You talk about the money spent on the players.
What about the money spent on the manager and coaching staff who are supposed to get the most out of these guys? What about the front office who were responsible for the acquisition of players and personnel ? Those are the people who bet on guys like Vardy and Evans.
Chelsea had a pretty stable organization for a long time. Then the ownership change came and in comes Todd , who had tons of money and spent it like a drunken sailor.
All that money and the willingness to spend didn’t exactly buy him a great or even a good team did it?
Even with Boehly money and his open pockets, there are no shortcuts, no magic bullets.
You need a well financed ownership who have a willingness to invest in the team.
You need a good stable management staff and front office who understand how to build a successful team.
You need a good solid player pool and enough of them
You need all these elements to work well together.
If they do you get Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool.
If they don’t you get Leeds, Southampton or Everton
Then there’s Brighton with 2nd lowest payroll, made significant money in transfer market, sold their coach to Chelsea, and got a better manager to replace him. Their about even right now in the transfer market but stand to make a big profit on Caicedo. All while finishing 6th.
i think y’all are looking at numbers and not team chemistry. in my NCAA experience it was actually very bad to have 3 GK recruited at the same time led to believe they are The Guy. it sounds cute for vague competition purposes, boosts the payroll, but in practice, you’re either rotating every week to try and keep people happy, or you have 1-2 angry benchers whose whole persona is i am a starting keeper. i think a second keeper to compete for the job and be apprenticed to taking over is fine. i think three is a nightmare. this is not field play, you can’t turn a left side guy into a right side guy for a season, try him middle, try him further up or back. you either start or sit, give or take the odd cup appearance. bears noting forest as a non-europe team has a limited slate of non-league games to share around.
my impression forest is trying to load up to reduce their GA and move up the table. the payroll will be improved but you’re ignoring team dynamics. if they get turner, henderson, and schmeichel, i am sure no one signed up to be back up much less third string.
IV somewhere lost in the comments the local Nottingham media is saying the Schmiechel reports aren’t true. I think it will end up with Horvath leaving and Wayne Henessey being the third keeper (Welsh keeper in his upper 30s just looking to collect a few more checks before retirement). Forest is obviously a little concerned about Henderson’s health and appear a little nervous ManU is hiding something. They got pretty fortunate to land Navas at the deadline last season.
Where are your numbers from Capology has Leeds at 61 million pounds (they didn’t have an ordered list but that was more than Brighton, Brentford, Bournemouth and was basically even with Fulham and Southampton. So I guess you should expect them to finish in the relegation zone. However Chelsea spent 3rd most and didn’t finish anywhere near that and Brighton made European football with the 2nd lowest payroll.
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Let’s use FBref which is in between capology’s 61 and your 21. They had Leeds 16th with 49 million pounds. Leeds had a negative transfer balance of 31 million pounds. Forest 53 million pounds but with a negative transfer balance 164 million pounds. Leister meanwhile had a positive transfer balance of 30 million pounds so their expenditure was only 48 million so again maybe that proves your point. Brighton made 70 million on transfers and only spent 38 ending up ahead by 32 million. That’s amazing. Boy you could spend a lot of time on this rabbit hole. Chelsea salary 190 million + a transfer loss of 470 million pounds= combined salaries and transfers 660 million pounds to finish 12th.
Where did you find the 2022-2023 numbers for Leeds on Capology? I couldn’t access those – for whatever reason Capology’s “payroll” lists are included for 2021-2022 and 2023-2024…but last year’s season for whatever reason isn’t there with the Prem. I usually do use Capology’s because that site does seem to be the most accurate but I had to use Spotrac’s for 2022-2023. (Just click on “EST. TOTAL SALARY” on the top bar and it’ll give you the list in order.)
https://www.spotrac.com/epl/payroll/2022/
Relegation shouldn’t be overly concerning for Nottingham. I mean, sure, anybody except probably the top six can have a bad run and See Ya, but Forest’s payroll this year is already £59 million – good for 11th overall in the Prem and a spot ahead of Fulham.
Assuming they got good value for those players, soccernomics suggests Forest should be mid-table, not relegation bait.
What was Leicester City and Leeds payrolls last season?
Apologies…the post above was supposed to be a response to your question.