It is January, the transfer wheels are turning, and the rumour mill is kicking into overdrive as we head towards the end of the window.
This evening, there are reports linking Bernd Leno with a move to Newcastle which, ordinarily, we’d dismiss, but they’re coupled with stories about a potential move for American stopper Matt Turner.
That Newcastle might have interest in the German is understandable, and that he might want to leave makes sense, having lost his place to Aaron Ramsdale. However, without any kind of experienced back-up, there’s no way the Gunners could sanction a deal this month.
🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 Breaking news!!@Arsenal have put in a strong bid for @headdturnerr from the @NERevolution today. What a great opportunity for both the player & franchise to further enhance their brand. What a great time to be a #NERevs supporter. #MLS
— Taylor Twellman (@TaylorTwellman) January 20, 2022
Turner, a 27 year old US international with 13 caps to his name, currently plays for New England Revolution, having had previous spells with Richmond Kickers and Jersey Express, which sounds like a bus you get from the airport.
It’s hard to establish just how much there is to this. However, Arsenal have shown a willingness to let go of players who want to get minutes elsewhere, as the departures of Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Pablo Mari and Sead Kolasinac have demonstrated this month.
Leno isn’t even the cup keeper, with Ramsdale preferred for last week’s Carabao Cup semi-final and he is expected to start the second leg against Liverpool tonight, so it wouldn’t be at all surprising if he wanted to go and play.
As such, we’ll give this one a slightly wary 6 on the Poo-O-Meter.
As an American Arsenal fan and a NE Revs fan, I love this player and would be delighted to see him brought in.
torn between not trusting the MLS and trusting the people who brought in ramsdale…
I trust the process
Don’t really need a first team keeper since we have Ramsdale. Man City also have MLS keeper as their backup so I guess it’s TBD
If I am not mistaken, I think Tim Howard also went from MLS to Man U
Leno leaving in inevitable. Good to see the club seem proactive in recruiting.
American Gooner here. Excited about this link. Turner had a breakout 2021–was arguably the best goalkeeper behind the best team in MLS. And he’s put himself in contention for the No. 1 spot for the US national team going into the World Cup, as he started every game of our (winning) confederation championship run over the summer. Went undrafted to MLS and is now linked to the Arsenal—dizzying leap for him.
So how does he fancy warming the bench between now and the world Cup except Ramsdale is injured?
Does that not harm his chances of being US number 1 in Qatar?
His competitor for that spot is also a bench warmer in the PL.
“What a great opportunity for both the player & franchise to further enhance their brand.”
Phrases like this make my skin crawl and are among the reasons this North American has lost all interest in North American franchise sport.
Ugh.
That garbage aside, it’s pretty clear Leno will leave sooner rather than later and solid backup for Ramsdale is needed. As long as this isn’t just based on a coach’s recommendation (!), it seems to make sense.
“What a great opportunity for both the player & franchise to further enhance their brand.”
I wanted to write something similar, but then gladly scrolled down and saw your post. I would give 100 thumbs up, if I could. Only thing missing here is replacing the term player with asset or commodity.
Taylor Twellman never fails to annoy me, so I guess this tweet just fits with his brand.
If you ask me – there is nothing wrong with that. Is it a great opportunity for the player? Hell yes. Is it great for the franchise? Hell yes – and the league – it increases the MLS’ credibility. Its difficult to gain credibility for the MLS when the only cross-over opportunities are meaningless warm up games in the summer. Don’t act like only American franchises focus on their “Brand” – The connection forged globally does well for all American Soccer. Money is involved – heaven forbid that is a motivator – if in turn it yields a better product… Read more »
American soccer needs to rebrand itself as football to gain credibility XP…
You do realize that soccer is a British word, right?
Matt Turner had a great season in MLS and an excellent summer in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. He was the MLS keeper of the year, and won the golden glove award at the gold cup. We could do worse for a backup – might be able to flip him in a few years for good money
Living is the US, and watching a handful of MLS games plus internationals, I can say Matt Turner is no Aaron Ramsdale, but is pretty solid and respectable. He became the #1 keeper for the US national team last year, and is on an upward trajectory.
If this all goes through, I’d be hoping to see £10M+ gain (plus the weekly salary gain) to go towards the striker fund!
Turner is an amazing shot stopper and should absolutely be the #1 GK for the USA. Not sure how good he is with his feet, but this is exciting!
Isn’t one of the reasons we didn’t sign Matt Ryan permanently that he wasn’t good enough with his feet? I wonder if the poo o meter should be a little higher…
Matt Ryan was actually quite good with his feet (definitely better than Leno).
There were rumours that we didn’t want to non-homegrown spots used up on keepers.
But I am guessing we simply saw an opportunity for a keeper with a higher ceiling (Ramsdale) thus making signing Ryan obsolete.
Good call in the end…
Edit: ‘Suggestions’ rather than rumours.
Turner did exceptionally well in the Gold Cup last year, especially in the final vs Mexico, and has had a very solid last couple of years in MLS. He’s 27, so this isn’t a case of buying a young diamond in the rough, but he could be a good, inexpensive shout as a second keeper.
I’ve gotten some great sandwiches at Jersey Express.
I say that time for sorting out (backup) goalkeepers will be in the summer, not now. I trust Leno in case Ramsdale gets injured and we have other priorities to deal with this January.
Plus, I want Newcastle to go down.
Why waste a valuable non homegrown spot on a player that will have very limited game time?
Does Newcastle really need a goalkeeper? I thought they had two good ones.
Glad to see that despite the change in ownership, Newcastle is still the poorly-run shitshow it’s always been.
Leno off to the Zebra Sanctuary?
Harsh.
Assuming we get a good fee then this feels like a sensible move. Leno will be on 1st choice wages to warm the bench and his deal only has 18 months left. Definite upgrade for Newcastle
I can absolutely see this happening. Leno needs game time. He won’t get that with us unless Ramsdale picks up an injury now. He’s too good to be a number two keeper and he’d easily be first choice at Newcastle. A loan with option/obligation to buy would be good for us because it would mean he can’t play against us this season.
Of course I’d rather he stayed but if we have a replacement ready then fone.