FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Just 40 games into his MLS career, there’s every indication that Matt Turner has a bright future as a professional goalkeeper.
And that future, we now know, will be with the New England Revolution.
The club announced on Wednesday morning that Turner has signed a new multi-year contract, keeping the 25-year-old shot-stopper in Foxborough beyond 2019.
“He’s a good, young goalkeeper,” said sporting director and head coach Bruce Arena. “He was out of contract this year, and I certainly felt that he’s a player that we’re willing to invest more time in. So he’ll be around in New England for a couple more years, for sure, and I think he’s got a bright future.”
Turner joined the Revolution’s preseason camp as an undrafted rookie in 2016 after a successful four-year career at Fairfield University, and after developing in a third-string role his first two seasons, took the reins as the starting goalkeeper at the beginning of the 2018 campaign.
For the past four years, Turner has been working every day to repay the faith of the Revolution organization, and now he’ll have the chance to do so for years to come.
“I’m really pleased to be here long term,” said Turner. “This is the only club that really gave me an opportunity out of college, and since then, I’ve just been trying to repay the Kraft Group, repay my coaching staffs over the years, and just try to make the fans as proud as possible.”
Turner became an instant fan favorite when he saved a second-half penalty in his home debut last year, a dramatic 2-1 win over the Colorado Rapids. Since then he’s racked up a record of 14-12-13 and kept eight clean sheets while garnering league-wide recognition.
This year, Turner has been particularly impressive. Since regaining the starting role in May, he’s gone 6-2-4 with three shutouts and two MLSSoccer.com Team of the Week selections. His 73.5 save percentage and .667 winning percent are both top five in the league.
Last weekend at Red Bull Arena – just 30 miles from his hometown of Park Ridge, N.J. – Turner made a career-high nine saves to help the Revolution pick up a valuable road point in the playoff race.
“It’s crazy after nine saves he gets a new deal,” Teal Bunbury said jokingly. “I think it’s great. I’m really proud of him. He’s worked his tail off every day in training. He gives full effort. I’m really proud of him in the locker room, too. He’s a great guy, so it’s much deserved for him.”
“I think he deserves it, I think he’s shown that he earned it, and I think he’s ready to back it up,” added Andrew Farrell, one of Turner’s closest teammates. “It’s good that we have a guy like him on our team, and a guy behind me – or whoever’s playing back there – that can save a game for us.”
Turner hopes to save a few more games for the Revs through the current postseason push – they’re one point above the playoff line with eight games to play – and continue to build into the future.
It’s a future that appears to be bright not just for Turner, but for the Revolution, as well.
“I’m definitely ecstatic to be a part of (the club’s future),” Turner said. “With the new training facility and a lot more buzz around the team recently, I’m just really, really happy to be a part of it and to continue to be a part of it.”
