FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Even with several months’ notice, Matt Turner’s looming departure to Arsenal seemed to present the New England Revolution with a herculean task: finding a replacement for their star goalkeeper, who in the last five years emerged as one of Major League Soccer’s all-time great shot-stoppers and is now among the favorites to start for the U.S. men’s national team at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
But a decision to take the club’s global search to Serbia helped identify Turner’s successor. There they found a promising talent in Djordje Petrović – a tall, eager-to-prove-himself, and substantially experienced 22-year-old. Despite his relative youth, Petrović had already debuted for Serbia’s national team and recorded nearly 80 first-team appearances with Čukarički, the Serbian SuperLiga’s reigning third-place finishers.
Petrović signed with the Revolution for an undisclosed fee in April, and inherited the starting gloves after Turner left for north London in June.
Recent performances indicate the club made the right choice in acquiring Petrović, who has notched six clean sheets in 15 league appearances and carries a save percentage of 75.3, currently second in MLS among goalkeepers with 15 starts.
“You hope you can get a good enough goalkeeper who can implement what Matt Turner did for this club, which is a tough, tough ask, but we feel he could be as good as Matt, if not better,” said Revolution goalkeeper coach Kevin Hitchcock, who scouted Petrović alongside head scout Remi Roy.
Turner backstopped the Revolution’s resurgence under head coach/sporting director Bruce Arena as the club returned to the playoffs in 2019, 2020, and 2021 after a three-year postseason drought.
Last year, New England won the Supporters’ Shield while setting MLS’ all-time regular season points record. On many occasions, Turner’s saves were the difference between a win and a tie or a tie and a loss. Indeed, 18 of the club’s 22 victories in 2021 were single-goal games.
This season, the Revolution haven’t been as dominant and currently sit outside playoff contention. But Petrović has picked up where Turner left off, making spectacular saves, and having a major impact on his team’s results.
The Serbian leads MLS in the tongue-twisting metric “post-shot expected goals minus allowed per 90 minutes,” with a league-leading +0.40, according to the website FBref, which tracks advanced statistics.
That means Petrović saves 40% more than the expected rate of goals per game.
Beyond the numbers, he’s also passing the eye test. Through 15 games, he’s faced nine penalty kicks and stopped three. One stop came against Toronto FC’s Lorenzo Insigne in a 0-0 draw July 30; another came August 31 on Chicago Fire FC’s Chris Mueller, again a 0-0 decision.
With the postseason approaching and the club one point out of playoff position, those two saves essentially amount to two points gained at a crucial time.
Petrović, who is still not comfortable conversing in English with anyone other than teammates and coaches, said he doesn’t pay attention to external pressures.
“I just do what I do in training, and that’s what concerns me – the external effects of the fans and the audience … that’s what I switch off,” he told Pro Soccer Wire through a translator. “[The saves I make] is intervention, defending on the line, going to the center of shots. I think I can still improve a lot.”
Tremendous. pic.twitter.com/p1DOJWFmy6
— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) July 31, 2022
Hitchcock pays little to zero attention to advanced stats, focusing instead on a player’s character and skill.
He instantly liked what he saw in Petrović and knew he could turn him into a contributor in New England.
“I look for the all-around package,” Hitchcock told Pro Soccer Wire. “First off, he’s got a vertical jump to die for. Would I say he’s the cleanest goalkeeper I’ve had? No. But he’s working on it. A lot of European goalkeepers forget to catch the ball. They just parry the ball or block it, whereas I’m big on catching. He’s working on it, and I’m really pleased with that improvement.
“I’m looking for him to get into the right spots on different angles of the goal, and he’s getting there. He’s making saves from getting in the right spots, so now he’s trusting the positioning. I’ve been impressed with how he’s adapted to MLS – he looks like he’s been in it for at least five years …and his reactions are really sharp – the same as Matt’s.”
Former Revolution head coach Brad Friedel hired Hitchcock in April 2019, shortly before being fired following a 2-8-2 start to the season. Despite a decades-long goalkeeping career in the English Premier League and holding several goalkeeper coach positions thereafter, Hitchcock was unsure whether he had a place on Arena’s staff.
“But to be honest, it was really easy,” Hitchcock said. “Bruce watched six days of training to see if he could work with me and liked what I was doing. He sat me down and ripped up my contract. Then, he wrote me a new contract.”
Keeping Hitchcock may be an under-the-radar Bruce Arena masterstroke. Hitchcock helped forge Turner into an international-caliber goalkeeper. Now he’s trying to do the same with Petrović, who sings his praises.
Oh my. Not once, but twice denied by Djordje Petrovic! 🛑🛑 pic.twitter.com/T5etnLN9NH
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) July 4, 2022
But six months ago, there were no guarantees. Petrović weighed leaving Serbia as he began peaking for Čukarički and moving away from the family, country, culture, and language he knew. Ultimately, he jumped at the potentially life-changing reward of playing in MLS.
He believes Arena’s reputation as former coach of the USMNT and Turner’s transfer to Arsenal is proof that New England is where he needs to be.
“This is a really big step in my career, especially since I’m not in Europe or close to my family and friends,” Petrović said. “When I came here, I thought that MLS is a league that is one of the best in the world for young players to develop and prove themselves.”
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