Reports: Matt Turner Nearing Return to New England via Loan Deal

The transfer saga between Nottingham Forest and Lyon seems to be an end, with the French club seeming ready to immediately send Turner back stateside.

Photo By J. Alexander Dolan

According to a lot of people, including our very own Seth Macomber, who was first on this Wednesday, Matt Turner could soon be back in Foxboro.

MLS insider czar Tom Bogert is also reporting on this as is Julian Cardillo locally, and of course the big boys in France with L’Equipe. We’ll try and do our best to keep up as this unfolds but there’s a lot of moving parts.

Let’s play catch-up on Turner’s saga of late, you can also check out Josh’s article from midweek that has a lot of details too. We know his transfer to Arsenal well, but he didn’t play much there, got sold to Nottingham Forest where he played half a season before a loan to Crystal Palace, where he didn’t play much in 2024/25 either.

Report: Revolution "Exploring" Reunion With Matt Turner

Thus begins the transfer saga of Matt Turner to French club Lyon, who had an $8M deal with Forest to sign the keeper and seemingly have him start and replace the outgoing Lucas Perri who signed with Leeds on a $16M deal. Problem is Lyon, like a lot of French clubs, have a lot of financial issues going on right now and they tried to scuttle the deal which was done under previous team board lead by U.S. businessman John Textor who resigned as president but is still owner (his football group has a minority stake in Palace, owns Brazilian side Botofogo and Belgium club RWDM Brussels).

A lot of those financial details comes from Bogert’s reporting, which basically means Lyon has to officially complete the transfer but will immediately loan out Turner to MLS and the Revs to at least keep his salary off their books. Bogert also mentions terms of the one year loan should keep Turner in the TAM-eligible range, but the Revs might opt to have him occupy a DP slot in the short term. There is a buy option on top of the one-year loan, but that amount is unknown, considering the Revs are taking on the full wages per Hugo Guillemet, I would hope that gives them a discount on the $8M Lyon spent on a full purchase option down the road.

After doing some napkin math, the Revs currently are set up for the 2 DP/4 U22 model but likely can switch to a 3rd DP if needed for the rest of the year. Max budget charge for players is around $750K so TAM can buy down anyone above that not already on DP status - per the MLSPA Salary page if Turner is going to make over a million it might make sense for him to be a DP the rest of the year if they’re going to do anything else this window.

Of the things the Revolution need to address right now, goalkeeper is nowhere near the top of the list. Aljaz Ivacic has been fine but was certainly better earlier in the year, he also currently occupies only a Supplemental Roster spot (not counting against the cap), and with Ivacic only holding a team option for next year, the Turner signing very much looks like one for the future.

Matt Turner needs playing time and a comfortable spot to regain and/or maintain his #1 shirt with the USMNT, and the place he vaulted into stardom is a great landing spot for him personally. Does this do a whole lot for New England prior to World Cup 2026? Not really, but if all this does is get Matt back on his feet and do a solid for the USSF until next summer, I’m okay with it, financials be damned for 2025.

New England does not have a match until August 9 at home against DC United, that might be too quick of a turnaround to get Turner into the starting lineup even if this gets wrapped up and official over the weekend/early next week.