'Arsenal was a hard push' - Crystal Palace goalkeeper Matt Turner told what he has to do to reignite career as USMNT legend Kasey Keller makes compelling Brad Friedel observation

The 30-year-old shot-stopper bid farewell to his native America in the summer of 2022 when severing ties with MLS side the New England Revolution. He was chasing a dream at that stage, with an opportunity to link up with Premier League heavyweights at Emirates Stadium proving too good to turn down.

Turner made just seven appearances for Arsenal before heading to Nottingham Forest, where he took in 20 outings last term but tumbled down the pecking order after making several costly errors. He is now on loan at Crystal Palace, but has figured in only one Carabao Cup fixture as his career threatens to grind to a halt.

While Turner’s ambition in heading for England is to be applauded, a countryman that once did likewise has suggested that the United States international took the wrong career path. Kasey Keller forged his reputation at Millwall before going on to represent Leicester, Tottenham and Fulham, while Brad Friedel is another who took a step backwards from Liverpool to Blackburn before becoming a Premier League stalwart.

Quizzed on what Turner needs in order to avoid seeing his starting berth with the USMNT come under threat, Keller – speaking in association with William Hill Vegas – told GOAL: “He’s getting picked because there is nobody else to challenge him! That’s a tricky one when you look at the situation. Friedel went three-and-a-half or four years at Liverpool without playing and then Brad was able to get to Blackburn in the Championship, and then they get promoted and he went on to have a great Premier League career.

“The hard part for Matt is, originally going to Arsenal was a hard push at that stage to say you’re going to break into this. But then when you go to a club like Forest, and then you go to Palace, there has to be a point where you’re either good enough for the Premier or you’re not.”

Keller added on his own experiences and how Turner should have sought inspiration from those that went before him: “I had good people around me when I was starting out. I had just turned, by a couple of days, 22 when I came over to Millwall. It was go to a place where you have an opportunity to potentially play. I had 202 matches for Millwall, league and cup, and I couldn’t have asked for a better foundation to start my career – being able to beat Premier League teams in cup competitions and say ‘I can play against these guys and keep clean sheets at Highbury, at Goodison and Stamford Bridge’. So when the time came, you had not only the volume of the Championship, of playing 46 league games, having to prepare yourself physically knowing you would play six or seven matches a month, and being prepared mentally for the grind and having the opportunities against big boys in cup competitions and show that you can do that as well.

“Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves a little bit. You think ‘I can do that’ and then you need someone to say ‘wait a minute, let’s walk a little bit before we start running and trying to take some good steps up’. I think it was tough. Matt is a little bit older, which might be the issue, but I would have loved to have seen a situation like Brad did and said ‘okay, I’m going to take step down, get on a good team that has a chance of getting promoted and then take the experience I had before, the experience of going down and coming back up, and then restart my career’.”

Turner is still under contract at Forest until the summer of 2027, but there would appear to be little future for him at the City Ground. There has been talk of him retracing steps to MLS, and a return to his roots may become the best option for all concerned. He is, however, likely to start in the League Cup quarter-final clash with his former club Arsenal on December 18, which presents a further opportunity to prove his worth.