A Chelsea starlet could be set to force the hand of Arsenal's back-up goalkeeper Matt Turner this summer. The 28-year-old only moved to the Emirates Stadium last summer but former USMNT player Eric Wynalda believes he is at risk of losing his national team spot.
Turner, who has played seven games in all competitions this season, is relatively inexperienced for his age with only had 99 MLS games to his name before leaving New England Revolution last year. He is yet to play a league game for Arsenal but had been made the Europa League keeper.
In total he has kept four clean sheets in the games he has played but was unable to stop Mikel Arteta's team from exiting the Carabao Cup at the hands of Manchester City or getting beaten by Sporting CP over two leages in Europe.
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Having played but made a mistake in the first leg of the tie against Portuguese opposition, Turner was left out of the return leg. He has been a mainstay on the bench throughout the league campaign but is the clear second choice behind Aaron Ramsdale.
This comes as no surprise given the status of his signing but Wynalda believes there is pressure coming on him from Chelsea's young shot-stopper Gabriel Slonina. "Matt Turner needs to find a club soon. The performances of Ethan Horvath have been impressive for Luton," he told The Action Network's Wondergoal Podcast.
"Also Gaga Slonina may see time in the Chelsea net before the end of the season according to my sources. It's being evaluated by the USMNT. "
Slonina is yet to play for the Blues having been sent back to Chicago Fire for the season but joined up with his new club in January. He has trained with the first team at Cobham but falls behind Edouard Mendy, Kepa Arrizabalga and Marcus Bettinelli in what is already a crowded goalkeeper spot.
That hasn't stopped his progression with the national team. For inter-season matches for the USA he has played, making his debut in January for the senior side. He is also the first choice for the Under-20 set-up in America.
Slonina is highly rated, having been chased by Real Madrid last year, but faces a long path ahead of him to get consistent minutes at Stamford Bridge. Given the uncertainty over Kepa and Mendy's futures it isn't impossible that his role is improved heading into next campaign, though.
As for Turner, Arsenal signed him with the plan of offering competition to Ramsdale and that is very much the life of a second choice keeper. Any change in that stance could prove to make a complicated summer ahead for all parties involved.
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