Matt Turner said his game has come a long way since joining Arsenal, despite only having made one appearance for the club thus far.
The U.S. national team goalkeeper joined the Gunners in the offseason from the New England Revolution, slotting in as the club’s backup behind Aaron Ramsdale.
Turner made his only Arsenal appearance two weeks ago, starting in a 2-1 win at FC Zurich in the Europa League. Still, the USMNT keeper said that his exploits in training have seen his game improve in new ways.
“I think my game has come a long way since I began at Arsenal,” Turner told reporters on a call from USMNT camp on Monday.
“Just the speed and intensity of everything every single day. Mikel [Arteta, Arsenal manager] doesn’t accept anything except for full gas at training sessions. So you have to bring it every single day, or else you get found out pretty quickly.
“I had a meeting recently with my goalkeeper coach where we looked at videos from my first few days of training, and then videos from my last few days of training, because I think it’s easy for us to get caught up in the moment. But looking back then to now, the difference in the goalkeeper that I am is is huge.”
Turner rejected the idea that he could be improving more at a club where he was starting every week.
“It depends on how you approach training, I would say,” Turner said. “If you’re in it just to stroll about and you don’t think that you can change your situation no matter what you do, then you’ll lose a lot of that sharpness.
“But I don’t know how much you know about me or my story, but that’s not really the kind of way that I operate. Every single day I go to training, I’m going to try to get better, to try to learn and improve and try to get myself onto the field.”
Turner and the USMNT will face Japan on Friday and Saudi Arabia next Tuesday as they wrap up preparation friendlies ahead of the World Cup.
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