With the Community Shield and all preseason action out of the way, Arsenal is set to take on Nottingham Forest to commence their Premier League campaign, but they are unlikely to do without their reserve goalie, Matt Turner. The American shot stopper arrived from the MLS last season and featured in seven games for the Gunners last season, with two games in the FA Cup and five games in the Europa League.
With Aaron Ramsdale being an ever-present in the Premier League, Turner didn’t feature in any League game, but made himself available to be called on from the bench. As an established international player, Turner has become disillusioned with his lack of game time at Arsenal and shared his concerns during the preseason, while he was recuperating from his CONCACAF Gold Cup sojourns with the United States.
With Nottingham Forest surviving the Premier League after languishing in the relegation zone for almost the entirety of the last campaign, the veteran goalie, Keylor Navas, returned to Paris St. Germain, while the club has so far failed to reach an agreement with Manchester United for the services of Dean Henderson, leaving the veteran, Wayne Hennessey, who is currently injured and the young returnee from Luton Town, Ethan Horvath, as the recognized goalies in the squad. It has been reported that Nottingham Forest has agreed personal terms with Turner, and are confident on reaching an agreeable fee with Arsenal over his services. The Gunners, in turn, have shifted their focus to Brentford’s David Raya and negotiations are still ongoing.
Like Auston Trusty, Matt Turner is set to leave Arsenal without playing a Premier League game for the club, and he’s set to join the elite club of ex-Arsenal goalkeeping talents that will remain in the division like Lukasz Fabianski, Bernd Leno and Emiliano Martinez. I trust Turner to put up a goalkeeping clinic when both sides clash in the future, as I believe this game on Saturday might be too soon for him to play for his new club.
Switching over to another American, Arsenal has rejected AS Monaco’s offer for Folarin Balogun, as it is way below the club’s valuation for the wantaway forward. Arsenal also rejected advances from Inter Milan, but it’s evident that Balogun might not be an Arsenal player before the transfer window closes, despite Gabriel Jesus on the injury list.
The player himself has made his intentions clear, and Arsenal seems to respect it, but the main issue would be the price, as Balogun is a young striker in good form, so he’s expected to command a decent transfer fee for his services. We would expect more clubs to reach out to Arsenal for his services, but for the time being, he remains a Gunner.
Sayonara.
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