Matt Turner already knows what will happen if he doesn’t do well enough before the January transfer window.
Matt Turner has only played one game, so it’s important not to judge him too much based on that. The summer signing will have many more chances to show his worth. When Arsenal beat FC Zurich 2-1 on the road, it was the goalkeeper’s first competitive start for the team.
Eddie Nketiah gave away the penalty kick, so he had to give up a goal. As Mirlind Kryeziu tied the game for a struggling Swiss team, the Arsenal sub dove in the wrong direction.
Turner also had a couple of times when he was scared. Gabriel Magalhaes’s bad back pass put pressure on the American, and his weak-footed pass was intercepted right away. The chance that came from this was wasted, though.
Turner didn’t seem to know what to do when there were corners or crosses. Sometimes he would come out and not claim or act as if he could charge, but then he would change his mind.
This is just one game, and it’s important to remember that making your first appearance is a scary time. But Aaron Ramsdale got hurt at Aston Villa and didn’t train for a couple of days because of a small muscle problem. This makes it likely that Turner will be needed for Premier League duties.
Mikel Arteta has already warned all of his players that the club is willing to make moves in the middle of the season if Turner doesn’t do well. Alex Runarsson was signed in the summer of 2020, but he struggled and helped Dundalk score in the Europa League and Manchester City score in the Carabao Cup quarter-final.
In January of the next year, the club got Mat Ryan on loan from Brighton. He took the place of the former Dijon stopper. Runarsson has since left the club and gone on loan to Belgium and Turkey back-to-back.
After Turner joined the team, there doesn’t seem to be much hope for him at the club. Mikel Arteta made up his mind in such a short amount of time. Ramsdale came in during the summer of 2021, and Bernd Leno moved up to number two.
With five more Europa League group stage games and the Carabao Cup third round match against Brighton to come, there are six chances, barring injury, to show the manager and fans that Arsenal has a good number 2. If he fails, there are signs that he won’t be given more time to prove himself.
