USA goalkeeper discussion thread - Episode IV: No Hope

Update on how the GKs in MLS are doing so far this season... as I said earlier not ideal that the best is 36 year old Sean Johnson for 25th place Toronto FC

 

It does feel a bit different from Steffen just hanging out at Man city years ago, he stupidly went to Arsenal, then left for more PT at Nottingham, that blew up in his face, left to fight for a gig at Crystal Palace, I'm not sure if he ever had a real chance, but he was at least moving for PT.

Yet at the same time, he had options, and he wanted money above all, and hopefully PT, rather than PT, and then okay money. He doesn't have a right to the gig, I just wish I trusted Poch more to make the right decision on who to roll with instead, I 1000% do not. His goal keeper selections have been a mix of idiotic, okay, and good, with no consistency other than always having at least one stupid choice.

Im hoping Kochen blows the doors off in 25-26, but I would agree with the sentiment that that is unlikely, he's probably going to break out in '26 or '27 if he breaks out.

 

The only thing is that I would like to see Klinsmann in one camp or the other. Because he might be starting for Udinese or Verona or some downfall SERIE A team and still be the US keeper at the highest level.

 

Not going to pretend to have watched a single minute but someone said Klinsmann was nothing special this season

 

What made Klinsmann "special" was actually playing in Europe.

I have no real idea what's going to happen. Poch has said that Turner needs to play, and he'll likely move somewhere to play as Steffen did to Boro last season.

When Turner is match fit, he's typically been fine for the USMNT. Not every time, but most of the time. He was fine at WC22. We didn't get knocked out of WC by Holland because of Matt Turner.

He concedes 0.79 goals per game for the USMNT.
Make of that what you will.

..................if we need a USMNT keeper to be perfect because we can't score goals against even semi-good teams, then we're in trouble no matter what. Cuz Buffon isn't in our pool.

 

No one could turn down the call from Arsenal and he did relatively well there. His move to Forest made sense, but it ultimately did not work out for him. The loan to Crystal Palace was not smart, but he had few options. His biggest problem is between his ears.

 

Interesting idea. I'm not sure they could afford him and his bloated salary.

 

Good story for the show though, between US player fighting to start in a home World Cup plus Turner’s overall story in terms of how he came to the sport.

I don’t know if they will be able to afford his salary or not but their revenue already stacks up well with most Championship clubs minus the ones getting parachute payments.

 

His salary is $2.8M per year. At this point, he is an unproven player having languished on the bench for much of the past 3 years. Not worth the risk. Turner's best bet is to find an MLS club.

 

A new starting GK is one of the few things Wrexham likely won't be looking for this summer. Okonkwo was excellent for them last season and I can't imagine he won't be their starter going into next season (though they might be in the market for a backup with Championship level experience).

 

But also one with elite shot stopping stats in a league very similar to the Championship.

I don’t know if those salary numbers for him are accurate or not but his most likely landing spot is the Championship somewhere. Wrexham wasn’t a serious thing from me but I think he’ll end up going down a level for regular playing time. Especially as I don’t know if there are any MLS teams really in the market currently. Somewhere like Southampton might make sense considering they’ll probably unload Ramsdale and will have parachute payments.

 

His former contract isn't really relevant. No MLS team is going to give him Roman Burki money, he'd be looking at about 1 million here.

 

Indeed. MLS clubs, by and large, don't splurge on their goalkeepers.
Only one American goalkeeper made more than $600k in 2024.
That was Steffen, who made $900k.

If Turner is just looking to come back to MLS, that Steffen salary number is probably what he'd be offered.

Most MLS starting keepers don't make a lot. You can get a Matt Freese on a $250k salary. MLS teams don't use their DP slots or big salary cap space on goalkeepers. By and large.

We've talked about Turner's issue at the highest levels in Europe. Playing with the ball at his feet isn't his strength. But there should be plenty of clubs out there who'd be interested. Ones that care more about a goalkeeper as a shot-stopper............................

 

If I were an MLS owner, I would not pick him, but there are too many variables to rule out any reasonable scenario. His contract expires on June 30, 2025, so transfer fees are not relevant here. His previous salary is only relevant to his own expectations, but he would be a fool to turn down MLS opportunities. I'm not sure Championship sides will even want him. His reputation in England is not stellar. He is smart enough to realize this summer is his last chance. Going into a World Cup year, MLS offers the best situation for him. We're soon going to find out how smart he is.

 

You're talking about Matt Turner, right? Because if so, he's got 2 years left to go on his contract with Forest (taking him to the summer of '27).

 

This is kind of disheartening as I see no 'keeper clearly better than Turner but Turner is NOT good enough. Now days simply being a good shot stopper is not nearly enough as we, and all other national teams need an all around keeper that is a good distributer as well as a good shot stopper and has the ability to lead and direct his defense. Turner is somewhere between weak and acceptable at all of those but he is not at all great at any one and, rating on a scale between 1 and 10, is overall no better than a 6.0 overall.
We need to find at least one who is at least a 7.5-8.0 if we want to actually challenge the more advanced teams as our field players cannot carry the team. Even at our best our field players are no better overall than our 'keepers.
I hope we find someone during this cycle but we already know that Turner is only adequate and if we see him even once we will know that our coach has given up on finding better and we will be stuck with a weak keeper for the duration.
MLS is the only place where we "might" find better and that is scary as I see no MLS USA keeper that seems up to taking the next step but, sometimes, small changes can make huge differences and we might still find one hiding somewhere in the talent cesspool that is MLS.

Personally, I have little hope of going into the next WC with a really good 'keeper and a good backup. But I might be wrong as i have been wrong once or twice as I once though I had made a mistake but I hadn't.

 

You're quite right. June 2025 is when the Crystal Palace loan agreement ends, but the Forest contract goes for 2 more years. So whichever club makes an offer for Mr. Turner, they will have to pay a steep transfer fee, perhaps in the neighborhood of $5M, which may scare away all suitors. Are we looking at another loan?

 

That is it in a nutshell. We are in deep, deep trouble.

 

@dark knight Can we get this inaccurate thread title changed to Episode IV: No Hope ?

 

I'd be totally fine with 2021/2022 Matt Turner. No, he's not great with the ball, but the shot stopping he was doing at that point was super valuable.

One or two goals removed from the scoring can be the difference in us having a great run or a disastrous one. The margins are so fine.

And since this team seems unlikely to really make a leap to being good at strong possession ball, I suspect that there's a really good chance Poch does what Berhalter did, what Klinsmann did and what Bradley did, which is go very pragmatic for the World Cup.

 

there is another dot jpg

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Turner chased the money but hasn't exactly put his NT future on the right foot.

 

My optimistic take: no reasons to worry about the keepers. Whoever we got might survive those 3-4 games without major blunders, the rest of the team will suck way worse.