Matt Turner may have had to wait for official confirmation of his move to Arsenal but he says the club have been doing what they can to make him feel part of the first team squad since a deal was originally struck with New England Revolution back in February.
Tempering the excitement of a high-profile move to London, the USA international has had to contend with an untimely hairline crack in his foot that ruled him out of the opening two months of the MLS season. He eventually returned to action in May for five games before cautiously riding out his final month as a Revolution player without getting on the pitch.
During that time, the likes of Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsdale and goalkeeper coach Inaki Cana all contacted the American to help smooth his transition to life on this side of the pond.
Speaking to Arsenal.com, Turner confirmed chats with the boss: “Of course, yeah, we’ve been in contact over the past few months, he checked in on me a few times, and we’ve started to develop that relationship.
“Him as well yeah, pretty close contact,” he said of Inaki Cana’s role.
“Especially once I was back playing games, looking at some things, some clips and just talking about games, and looking at training clips, and those kinds of things, so the back and forth was really, really nice, so again that’s another way of just feeling like I was part of the club, even though I wasn’t here in north London.”
He added: “It [the wait] was a little tricky at times, but the good thing was I got to follow along the tail-end of last season and watch every game Arsenal was playing, and really feel like I was a part of it which was interesting, but I did have a slight injury that kept me out for a bit so really my focus in this past few months was just getting back to full fitness, and then playing some games to get a rhythm, and that’s leading nicely into the start of pre-season here.”
While Turner admits he arrives at the Emirates as backup to Aaron Ramsdale, he’s intent on pushing the England international to new heights. It appears a relationship is already growing between the pair.
“Yeah, he and I have been in contact,” said Turner. “He checked in on me, make sure I’m settling in well.
“He seems like a great guy, I’m looking forward to not only getting to know him, but making him a better goalkeeper and to pushing him to be his best.”
The new boy won’t have to wait too long before a return to the States. After a couple of weeks training at London Colney, Arsenal head to Baltimore and Orlando for a trio of pre-season friendlies.
“I’m very excited to get back to the States, show the guys around, tell them what I know about those areas and it will be a nice way for me to integrate into the group, right, to get to know the guys a little bit better and just to have that immediate connection. That and the fact we drew England in the World Cup!”
Seems like a lovely fella. Welcome to the Arsenal, Matt.
Smart signing! Hope Leno can find a good club now.
Was wondering how Ramsdale managed to take Leno’s place so quickly. To be fair to Leno I think he was unlucky with the kind of sketchy and unbalanced defence he had in front of him. Leno is a good goalie but Ramsadale ball distribution and and his personality gives him an edge.
Technically I don’t think there is much between them. But attitude, confidence and ability with his feet are defintely an advantage for Ramsdale, plus his defence should be getting even better with Saliba returning.
Hopefully Partey and Tomi and Kieran stay fit or we have good enough back-ups (in midfield in particular, our points per game last season with Partey were far better than without, so we need a back-up there).
I think Leno is easily a better shot stopper than Ramsdale. But when you add ability to command the box, claim crosses, be a leader, and play with your feet, all of those stack up to give Ramsdale an edge.
Interesting, what makes you think Leno is a better shot stopper
Completely disagree with the “easily a better shot stopper” – Ramsdale made some absolute world class saves this past year! That’s no knock on Leno – he’s a great shot stopper, but I’d say they’re fairly even in that department.
I can’t believe that you see Leno as better than Ramsdale in any capacity. Some of the saves that Ramsdale has made would never have happened with Leno in goal.
Some of the easy goals that Ramsdale let in because of inability to calm down and read the game well wouldn’t have happened if it was Leno. Ramsdale likes to complicate issues, he likes doing stunts too much to make it look as if he’s doing a lot. He can just keep things simple.
Couldn’t disagree more. Stats show he only made 3 errors which led to conceding goals. I really cannot think of a single easy goal. Leno is totally error prone and in every aspect of keeping is inferior to Ramsdale.
Ramsdale is a better keeper but really lucked out coming in just when we had put together our best back four for years. I don’t think Leno ever really played behind a settled defence.
Seems like a nice enough guy – which is maybe what you need when you’re coming in to be a solid squad player. Eyes will be on avoiding Runarsson take two. Best of luck to him.
Welcome to the club Matt. Now means we’ve got 6 keepers on the books so you’d expect to see some movement on that front before we fly off to Baltimore
Now let’s sing Andy Carroll.
Partway through last season in MLS there was a big analysis on FiveThirtyEight showing that Turner’s contribution to the Rev’s success was head and shoulders above any other keeper, and ahead of most forwards in the league. He can be a difference-maker. Don’t think there’s much chance he’ll supplant Ramsdale but if we end up needing him I hope we’ll all be pleasantly surprised.
Here’s the article, worth it for the attention grabbing headline alone: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-most-valuable-soccer-player-in-america-is-a-goalkeeper/
As an American I love this signing for multiple reasons, but mainly because I think he’s a solid keeper. From what I’ve seen (which is admittedly limited to USMNT performances), he’s all you could ask for in a backup.
Gosh you’re an upbeat Gunner!
The statistical analysis in this article is really interesting, even apart from what it says about Turner (which, of course, is great to hear). The conclusion is that a keeper’s shot-stopping ability is far more important than his ability to play out. The big caveat is that because all these numbers are based on “events” they don’t tell you what’s happening off the ball. They don’t indicate how the *failure* to play out influences the game.
Chelski nicking raphina.
Let’s nick sterling.
Hmmm, Sterling will be on massive wages. Raphinha is a strange one. Clearly we’re interested and he’s a great player, but it feels a bit luxury. Happy if it goes ahead, interesting that we seem to have cash, not that bothered if it doesn’t happen. Martinez and Tielemans feel like plugs for bigger squad holes.
Agreed
Bit gutted about that to be honest. Dirty Chelsea sniping makes it 10 times worse. It seemed like Arteta had a clear plan for raphinia and I was excited to see him at Arsenal. Sterling wages would be too high and he’d probably run his contract down eventually too so I’d like to see us concentrate on a CM and cover for Tierney and hopefully pull a rabbit out of the hat for the final piece of the jigsaw upfront. We seem like we mean business this summer so I’m still very hopeful.
Agreed, CM is far more important.. as long as Saka stays fit
A no to Sterling from me but if we’re willing to pay big money for Raphinha then surely we’re willing to do the same for someone else of similar quality to strengthen the squad.
Sterling not likely. But we could go in for Richarlison and nick him from under the spuds nose.
Look at all those down votes.
Come on you lot, chin up eh? Whilst Raphina is a good player 60m is overpriced for a position where we have a starter with decent cover. Let’s not be too sad.
I’m not going to pretend I’m not disappointed about Raphinha (he’s a workhorse with technique to boot) but once Chelsea were willing to go straight to asking price, it would always be difficult to persuade Raphinha to choose Arsenal when his agent is ex-Chelsea midfielder Deco. With the links with him to Barcelona earlier, it feels like Deco has just been laying the groundwork to take him to one of his old clubs. One point which helps lick the wounds on this one is that we’re not too Brazil-heavy in a crazy season where we have a world cup half… Read more »
So even though Chelsea have made no bid officially for Rafinha and he’s not stated any preference to play there the fan base has just rolled over and given up on the prospect of him joining us (including Andrew based on what he wrote this morning in the blog). Already the ‘we didn’t want him anyway’ crowd are out in force. Wtf? We really have become such losers. I hope Edu isn’t as defeatist, he will make the squad stronger. Nothing is done yet, let’s see.
They’ve tabled a bigger bid, they have champions league football, they’ve also likely offered a bigger wage, plus they have better relationship with the agent.
While nothing is done yet, it’s only a matter of time before it gets done.
That’s not being defeatist. It’s being realistic with yourself. The faster we move on, the faster we can identify alternatives and get other deals done.
He would be a fantastic addition but our summer is still great without him.
You are making a lot of assumptions. Arsenal may yet match the bid (or they may not) Having a Brazilian TD, a young project with a direction and a stable ownership model May yet be a factor. I’m not saying we should put all of our eggs in the Rafinha basket but let’s not actively promote our inferiority complex.
Chelsea have made a bid and met Leeds’s asking price. Arsenal haven’t matched that bid (yet).
I haven’t seen anyone credible say we didn’t want him anyway.
But it will be interesting to know who Plan B is on the shopping list.
There’s no comments on the blog, so I just came hear to say big ups to the web guy. The News ticker at the top of arseblog.com on mobile looks nice.