Dor Turgeman arrived in New England highly touted, and he quickly proved why the Revolution acquired the striker from Maccabi Tel-Aviv.
The 21-year-old Israeli striker was purchased for a reported $5.5 million transfer fee, making him one of the most expensive signings in Revs history. Turgeman tallied 36 goals and 15 assists in 145 professional matches in Israel.
“He can turn on a dot,” interim head coach Pablo Moreira said in the buildup to Saturday’s match against Atlanta United. “He has very good, soft feet, can lay the ball off, run the channel. He’s not your prototypical nine in the sense that he’s not like a target striker, but he’s very versatile in what he can offer.”
After a few training sessions, Turgeman didn’t make the starting XI but made a cameo appearance in New England’s 2-0 win over Atlanta United that would make Matt Damon proud. Along with 15 touches, three chances created, and two fouls drawn, he was also 7/7 on accurate passes.
But Turgeman’s two-goal involvements are what has fans excited. The striker opened the scoring with a great display of skill, dancing an Atlanta center back out of their shoes and soon after blasting a shot into the back of the net.
Minutes later, Matt Turner threw the ball out wide to Turgeman, who darted up the right flank. The 21-year-old eventually found the returning Leo Campana who curled his shot past Jayden Hibbert.
Beyond being able to create for himself, Turgeman created for his teammates. As soon as he stepped onto the pitch, New England’s offense was ripping and roaring.
“I think it’s [Turgeman’s] ability to create. You saw it. When the game opened up he’d get in behind, create for himself, and create for other people,” left back Will Sands said. “I think it’s a really nice piece to have.”
While New England only has two games remaining after the 2-0 win, Turgeman noted that it was important him to get minutes ahead of the 2026 season. Moreira also believes that getting time on the pitch during the 2025 campaign will do the striker good as he looks to build chemistry with his teammates.
“But we’re building, each game at a time, each training at a time and we’re building for next year,” the interim head coach said. “And this is huge. This is huge for [Turgeman’s] confidence, for the camaraderie, for the partnership.”
While Turgeman’s own goalscoring ability is important, he showed the ability to get his striker partner on the scoresheet as well. For a player such as Campana, who has struggled with consistency, being alongside Turgeman could do wonders for the Ecuadorian’s confidence and get the 25-year-old performing up to expectations.
“I’m very happy that I helped [Campana] score a goal,” Turgeman said. “I think we have good chemistry together. We match each other well, and I hope that we will do good things together in the future.”
New England has been lacking a real striker duo since the departure of Gustavo Bou and Adam Buksa. Considering Campana’s struggles, they have also been without a lethal goalscorer.
Albeit one game against a struggling Atlanta United side, Turgeman showed the ability to fill the shoes of players who brought great success to New England. It was basically the perfect debut.
But as mentioned by Jeff Lemieux postgame, the last Revs player to score a goal and an assist on his debut was Luca Langoni. While the former Boca Junior forward is a quality player, similar to Campana, he hasn’t lived up to expectations.
Turgeman will need to show in the remaining matches and early on in 2026 that he can score on a consistent basis. While strikers are more than goals, if they are finding the back of the net, it is hard to disparage them.
I think that it’s a little unfair to compare Langoni and Turgeman’s 1g 1a first appearances. Last year against Montreal, we tore them apart and they’d checked out a bit. This year I can’t pretend Atlanta is good, but before Turgeman came on to the field we were NOT winning and maybe not even the better side. After he came on, we had a complete team and were heavily the favorite from the eye test. I think Turgeman had a much larger impact in this win than Langoni did in his debut.
We’ll see how it continues in the future, but my hopes are high right now.