Matt Turner's expectations were low as he sat down to write the email that would change the rest of his life. He had only taken up football aged 14 as a way to stay in shape for his initial sporting loves of basketball and baseball, before a freak injury to the freshman year 'keeper saw him thrust in goal for high school try outs.
Even then he would not make the varsity squad for another year and did not begin playing for a team until the age of 16, just over a year younger than Bukayo Saka was when he made his professional debut for Arsenal. Despite some obvious promise no college teams showed an interest in taking him on for one of their sporting programmes and it appeared Turner's footballing career would be limited to a short-lived teenage memory. It was at this point though, where he decided to take his destiny into his own hands.
Having already been accepted on as an academic student at Fairfield University in Connecticut, Turner thought he'd chance his arm and see if their goalkeeping coach fancied coming down to watch him at a summer tournament he was playing in. Javier Decima's inbox is a busy place though. In recruitment season he receives about 150 emails a day featuring highlight reels of high school students hoping to get on to his college's soccer programme. Turner's was just one of many, but to this day Decima is glad that he opened it.
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"We looked at the video and you could see there were glimpses of good things," Decima tells football.london. "We were watching in the office and said ‘he has something that reminds me of (David) De Gea,’ not anywhere near it, but when he was coming out for crosses, his lankiness his timing and the way he was catching the ball. He was just a lanky kid with great athleticism, very thin, but there was something in there that you could see."
Turner was invited into an ID clinic on a Saturday and it took two days for Fairfield to decide that they wanted to sign him up as one of their goalkeepers. Again though, he would have to wait for his chance.
His first year at college was spent as back up to New Zealand's 2012 Olympic Team stopper Michael O'Keefe. Turner went away that summer expecting to return for his sophomore year as Fairfield's number one, but the decision was taken to bring in English 'keeper Joe Martin who become the starter in between the posts.
Despite the extended wait, Turner's debut actually came sooner than expected, when a hip flexor injury for Martin prior to a match with Iona saw the New Jersey native thrust in at half time. He began his first game well, claiming several crosses and making a few decent saves, but it was not long before he was to endure an incident that would haunt him for months to come.
"I’ve never seen anything quite like that to this day to be honest," Decima recalls. "The ball was shot from about 35 yards out, it hits the top of the crossbar and goes straight up. Usually if it hits the crossbar it goes over or comes out, but this one went straight up. As the ball’s going up I’m saying to myself, ‘he’s got to push it over the bar, he’s got to push it over the bar.’ But he tried to catch it and unfortunately it went into the goal.
"It was devastating. We went into the locker room, and it was almost a shared locker room, and we could hear their coaches saying ‘that’s gonna be on ESPN, we’re gonna share it’ all cracking up, and we were like 'I hope not'."
Unfortunately they did. Turner's humiliation was broadcast to a national audience and ranked number one on ESPN's 'Not Top 10' segment, a feature that focuses on the biggest mishaps from college sport across the country (2:36 in the video below). Turner is jovial as he looks back on it now, but at the time it was a traumatic experience. Having such intense national spotlight is something even professional athletes struggle, but for a 20-year-old, making his first ever college appearance it was a lot to take, and the decision was taken to withdraw him from the side for the rest of the season for his own protection.
It was at this point where Turner seriously considered walking away from football entirely. He had given it a good go, but after failing to make Fairfield's team in two years maybe it was for the best to call it a day. Once again though, he set about defying his own expectations.
After a conversation with his parents Turner was convinced to give it another go to try and make the best of his footballing career. While other teammates began enjoying the things that spring break on the beach in Connecticut has to offer, Turner set about dedicating himself to double training sessions on the pitch and in the gym. Despite all the practice work, he knew he would need some actual game time to prove that he was ready to play again. Perversely though, with the Iona error hanging over his head, that became very difficult to find.
Again though, Turner set about defying the odds. Following rejection after rejection he was eventually able to secure himself a place as the third choice goalkeeper for the Jersey Express in the American fourth tier (known as the Premier Development League or PDL). His chances of game time seemed slim, but injuries to both the number one and two 'keepers in the same pre-season game gave the American the chance that he needed. Having worked so hard he was hellbent on taking it, and managed to help guide the Express to the PDL national semi finals, meaning that by the time he returned for his senior year at Fairfield he had left his coaches with a decision to make.
"He had a great off-season, trained well in the summer, played for a couple of teams, and when he came back, he was on par with Joe," Decima recalls. "I remember for our first game of the season, our head coach came over to me and said ‘who are we gonna play’ and I said, ‘we’re gonna play Matt Turner, he said ‘are you sure?’ and I said, ‘I’m positive.’
"We won that game 1-0, he kept a clean sheet and he kept going and ended up leading the nation that year for clean sheets and save percentage. That was night and day from where he was coming from in freshman year."
Despite these impressive performances, by the time he arrived at the end of his final year of university, Turner's love affair with football appeared to have once again run its course. He wasn't invited to MLS 2016 combine and the SuperDraft passed without anyone deciding to take a gamble on him. It was at this point when Turner's name first came to the attention of the New England Revolution's goalkeeping coach Remi Roy.
"In the 2017 season we were looking to add a goalkeeper," Roy tells football.london . "In the US we have the college draft as a way to add players in the off season and we kind of have an idea of which players are coming out of the college draft because they’re seniors in college, and then they have the combine so we have an idea of which players are going to be admitted to the combine.
"I wouldn’t say that I was not attracted to any of them, but I just kept looking at others. A friend of mine who’s an agent called me and said ‘I’m not a goalkeeping expert, can you help me with this kid?’
"He sent me some video and I watched him and I liked him so I said ‘if he doesn’t get picked in the draft I’d like to invite him in for pre-season.’ We did and from then he did really well. From the beginning, in the first two or three days he impressed, we kept him on.
"From the beginning you could see that he was a sponge. He retained everything. But it was more that he could make saves that only a small percentage of goalkeepers can make. The ones that you can’t teach them, the ones where you’re out of position, but you still make the save, the game winning save, the ones that should be goals but he still makes the save. He was doing those when he was on trial.
"We signed him a week or so after he arrived for that trial and he’s be playing small sided and he would win games and many times in training he’d be the best goalkeeper at training. You could see from very early on that he definitely had something that was worth training and developing."
Turner was signed up to a three year contract, but would again have to wait for his chance. He continued training with the Revs, but was sent out on loan for two seasons with the Richmond Kickers in the American second tier (United Soccer League) to get regular game time.
With each passing game he improved, and it wasn't long before the Revs sought to give him his chance. Former Tottenham 'keeper Brad Friedel had taken over as the manager at the Gillette Stadium and gave Turner his first start. He was able to maintain his spot until a poor run of results saw him rotated out of the team, leaving Turner, not for the first time, seeking to fight his way back into contention.
Friedel restored him to the starting line up for his final game in charge of the Revs, and despite the game ending in a 5-0 defeat, new coach Bruce Arena decided to keep Turner in between the sticks. He has been the number one ever since. Last season he was voted the Revolution player of the year by teammates and fans alike and came second in the MLS' best goalkeeper award.
It was not long before clubs around the world sat up and took notice. Towards the end of November 2021, Arsenal registered an interest as it became clear that Bernd Leno was going to be on his way out of the club, with Aaron Ramsdale established as the number one. It was a dream for Turner who had spent many a Saturday morning in his college years, waking up early to watch Arsenal in bars filled with Gunners fans who had no idea who he was.
While it fulfils a career ambition for Turner, this move certainly has its risks. He is in a fierce battle with Manchester City's Zack Steffen for the starting spot in goal for the USA at the upcoming World Cup in Qatar and risks jeopardising his chances by coming in to be a number two at Arsenal. There are also question marks about his suitability when it comes to meeting Mikel Arteta's demands of playing out from the back, something he has not had much experience in doing with the Revs. It is here though that his impeccable work ethic and ability to learn quickly are likely to come in handy.
"He’s always been that underdog and that’s the mindset that he has," says Decima. "He’s the hardest working kid that you’ll ever meet, but he’s also a kid that has a lot of charisma. Coaches get very close to him and they want him to do well because he’s that kind of person and he’s humble, he’s hard working, he’s dedicated to his craft and he wants to get better."
These sentiments are echoed by Roy. "He’s probably the hardest working goalkeeper I’ve ever worked with," he says. "His work ethic is tremendous. He’s a winner.
"He has had to defeat a lot of challenges and go through a lot of obstacles to get to where he’s at. You cannot be somebody who’s laid back if you want to win and progress and do what he’s done every time he steps on the field. He’s not somebody that’s gonna sit back and say ‘I’ve achieved what I want to achieve’. That’s not happening."
Turner will arrive in North London as back up to Ramsdale who has established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League during his debut season with Arsenal. The odds are certainly stacked against the American when it comes to challenging for that number one spot, but having become something of an expert at defying expectations in his career so far, Turner will be quietly confident of doing the same with the Gunners.
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