Jurrien Timber says he’s not wed to any particular position and believes his versatility will help him earn more minutes in the season ahead.
Recruited from Ajax last summer, it was widely assumed the Holland international would function as an inverted right-back, mirroring the role played by Oleksandr Zinchenko in the 22/23 campaign.
As it turned out, Arteta opted to deploy his new signing at left-back. It was an experiment that was going well – a swashbuckling performance against Barcelona in Los Angeles was followed by another impressive showing versus Manchester City in the Community Shield – only for disaster to strike in the opening league game of the season.
After receiving medical treatment on either side of half time, Timber limped from the field after 50 minutes with tests later confirming an ACL injury. The road to recovery was long and he didn’t play again for the first team until a late cameo in the final game of the campaign against Everton.
The question now on everybody’s lips is where Arteta will use Timber this season, especially with the club well served at left-back and with another, Riccardo Calafiori, reportedly on the way.
It’s a conversation that must have happened between player and manager, but Timber isn’t giving anything away just yet.
“I have played everywhere in the back to be fair. Last pre-season I started a lot as a left-back and I enjoyed it as well so I am happy to play,” he told Football.London.
“I spoke about it with Ben White as well. I think it’s good to be versatile just to play more positions. You’re also able to get more minutes then, I think. And the coach can put you in more places. It’s nice for him as well. And I’m just hoping to play anywhere.”
“I think it [competition for places] is good. And it’s good for the team. At the end of the day, you want to win prizes and you need everyone for that. So, I think it’s fun and good for everyone to lift each other up.”
Judging by his other comments, Timber is definitely one of life’s ‘glass half full’ people. Asked how he coped with the injury and, specifically, its timing just after his big-money move, he told Hayters: “I look at it in a positive way. I try to look at it in a positive way. I came out well. I feel good anyway. It’s a year later, time goes quick. But I enjoy my time here and I’m excited to start again.
He added: “You have to look at how lucky you are as well. And that’s the way I look at it. Last year, I had time to work with some fantastic physios.
“I had good people around me, the teammates were great. So, eventually, it was a good time for me. It’s never fun to be injured, but I tried to make the best out of it.”
Arteta has certainly been impressed by Timber’s attitude. Confident but humble, the 23-year-old has all the qualities to become an important voice in the dressing room in the years ahead.
“He is so willing, you can see that in his body language and the way he acts,” said the boss yesterday.
“He has worked so hard, I think he is in a really good place at the moment. We are going to have to manage him now in the next few weeks, especially because the load he has been able to do in the last few months compared to the next two weeks is very different, but we are very excited.
“Mentally he is a really tough boy. He has a great environment around him and hopefully, that will make him a better player.
“He is a leader. He loves to be on show and a big presence in everything that we do. He is very vocal and extremely gifted technically. He is a great addition to the team.”
I have a feeling Arteta sees him as eventually overtaking Ben White for the RB position once he gets his feet under him and finds form (which might take a few months given the extent of his injury) so that he can have two fully inverting full backs?
Which concerns me, because you can’t really play the RB position much better than White did last season, but also excites me, because wowsers imagine if you can.
I see it more like Timber taking the pressure on both left and right back to share games. Last season we got lucky with injuries, but playing so often made some players look tired at time.
Sure, taking pressure off, but eventually as we’ve just seen with goalkeepers and pretty much every position, Arteta might have some fantasies about players sharing a position equally but eventually he’ll always find a first choice he likes for a given position and will mostly stick with that player unless forced by injury or a run of bad form to make a change.
I wrote it before here but I’m not sure how many of you’d agree…
I wonder if I will be right or not, but maybe Arteta could try him in the middle.
Because in my view his style of play (and capabilities) are very similar to that of Joshua Kimmich. (I mean his technique, acceleration, intelligence, concentration and of course his defensive awareness).
Could even deploy him as part of a three man defence with wingbacks in the champions league.Possibilities are endless with a technical Swiss Army knife of a player.
Might happen if we’re short of options but given I don’t think he’s played a single game there in his life, and Arteta’s complete reluctance to give Zinchenko a single try out in midfield, I’d bet against that being his plan A or B, perhaps C.
I don’t think Mikel ever expected White to adapt to RB this well, or for Big Gabi to arrive at the level he did for most of last season. I think Timber was originally meant to be a specialist RB, but he played LB due to injuries, then got injured himself which left White free to consolidate his role there. Now we brought in a specialist LB, so Timber either has to beat White to the role in preseason or become a Tomiyasu type defensive swiss army knife. Either way, the squad is looking really strong at the back. Worth… Read more »
He won’t beat White in preseason, it’s way too early in his comeback. If he does it will be in a few months once he’s found some form again.
Good luck to him because he is one injury away of being labeled injury-prone.
Only a goal or two away from being labeled a prolific scorer.
A couple of miracles and he’d be the next messiah.
Don’t share his “glass half full” mentality then…..
Labeled by who? The twitter mob? Maybe we should get players to wear actual labels on their kits which describe what they are according to Twitter, so fans who watch football don’t have to make their own observations god forbid
Why are we hearing about Arsenal going after Guehi? Gabby MAGA is after Saudi money again?
I wouldn’t put too much stock in those rumours. We have an army of centre backs now.
Maintland Niles was so ahead of his time at Arsenal.
Timber has played several positions before as is customary at Ajax. Perhaps the need to buy Calafiori and having resigned Tomi to a long term deal means we will be using Timber in a defensive midfield position. His brother plays as a 8, and even though Jurrien is more defensive of the two brothers. As shown in his comeback u21 match, he has no issues moving upfield and taking advantage of spaces around the box. Could he also be used as a DM or left 8? That could maximise our use of Calafiori’s rampaging runs upfield whilst Jurrien can cover… Read more »
Let’s just hope after his early ACL we can finally see what this player can contribute to the team. Some players make their mark wherever they play and I suspect Timber is among them. Good luck to him