Matt Turner discusses his move to Arsenal for the first time

New England Revolution goalkeeper Matt Turner met with the media on Thursday but the MLS club wasn’t talked about that much.

This was the first time that the goalkeeper spoke since it was announced by the Revs that Turner would be heading to Arsenal in the summer.

The 27-year-old broke down how the transfer to the English Premier League ended up happening.

“In terms of how the whole transfer saga went down, yeah, I mean, I was obviously at camp with the [United States Men’s] National Team and I had heard of rumblings of interest over the past few months, but it always seemed like a longshot,” he said. “When the year turned, they decided to put in an offer and contact the Revs the same way every transfer pretty much happens. I don’t think there was too much else to it. Back and forth, back and forth. And then on the day we were playing El Salvador, it finally went through. It was emotional, it was up and down. Sometimes it was more dead than ever, sometimes it was more alive than ever, but that’s the first time I’ve ever been through something like that, so to have it all come through and then come out and put in a good performance and get three points for the national team, it was a very sort of euphoric day for me in my life and my career.”

Turner’s journey to being the best goalkeeper in the United States wasn’t the normal one. It’s what will motivate him when he finally heads across the pond.

“Well, I mean when I first started, was trying to become a professional soccer player, most teams said no,” Turner stated. “I came in, I was a three, I was a two. When I got my first chance with the national team it was only as a number three. No one ever really took me seriously, so I’m not going over there just to collect a check and ride off into the sunset. I’m going to push myself, I’m going to push Aaron [Ramsdale] and continue to help him get better and help myself get better, and obviously I’m going to try to challenge to games.”

The timing of the move is interesting as Turner will be making the leap right in the middle of the World Cup cycle with the tournament beginning in December. The goalkeeper stated that these opportunities only come about a certain amount of times.

“I’ve been playing well for a long time and these windows are few and far between, so any opportunity you get to sort of make that jump, get your foot in the door, and then sort of see what happens, you know, you kind of have to take that chance, especially when it comes to a club like Arsenal,” he said.

Turner also believes it will help him in his journey towards earning the starting United States Men’s National Team.

“On the other side, I obviously was playing every single game last year for the Revolution and I wasn’t the out-and-out number one for the national team,” the 27-year-old said. “I still did get displaced by Zack [Steffen] for some of the games in World Cup Qualifying, so this is a way for me to show my ambition and show that I want to work on things that maybe I’m not as good at as he is, and then challenge myself at the highest level possible.”

Turner continued saying that he had no hesitation when it came to the move.

The Revs and Turner played a closed-door scrimmage against Hartford Athletic as they prepare for the start of the 2022 MLS season.