Jurrien Timber speaks exclusively to Sky Sports as Arsenal's new £38m defender capable of playing in multiple positions; follow Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest on the opening weekend of the Premier League season in Sky Sports' live blog; kick-off 12.30pm
Saturday 12 August 2023 07:14, UK
When Arsenal's Premier League title race faded at the end of last season, there was one fan in the Netherlands watching on in anguish. He would go on to become their new £38m defensive signing later that summer.
"It was painful," Jurrien Timber, the fan in question, tells Sky Sports now adorning the Arsenal badge on his chest. "You could see Manchester City getting better and better and they were so hard to beat.
"You saw those two games against Man City where they lost those six points. In the end, it was hard to come back from that. But it was fun to see and watch."
Timber's claims that he is a long-serving - and perhaps even long-suffering - Arsenal fan have some substance behind it.
When his move to north London was completed last month, Ajax posted a video of a young Timber predicting that one day he would play for the Gunners as it's a club he's always liked.
"It was just a feeling and a dream - I always wanted to play for Arsenal," he recalls when asked about that video.
"Normally I don't talk about the teams I want to play for. But Arsenal was my favourite club so that's the reason I said it.
"When the choice came this summer, it wasn't a hard choice to make."
Now Timber is being brought in to help Arsenal to make the extra step. The Dutch defender sits in Arsenal's training ground with the No 12 on his shirt, the same number William Saliba had last season.
The Frenchman's introduction into the team helped Arsenal go from fifth to second. Could Timber be the one who helps them go from second to first?
What Timber has that Saliba doesn't is a league title to his name. Two, in fact, from his time at Ajax.
The been-there-done-that experience isn't necessarily a must in this day and age, but when you look at how Arsenal's young squad fell away last season, it definitely would have helped.
"It's hard to say," Timber says when asked about the skills required to get over the line. "The Eredivisie is different from the Premier League.
"In the Dutch league, we always said you will be champions if you win against the small teams. In the Premier League, you don't really have small teams.
"You can't drop a lot of points. To be champions, you need to be a bit lucky but consistent in whatever you do and what makes you good."
So Timber says good fortune is required and he mentioned Arsenal being "happy and lucky" in Sunday's Community Shield victory on penalties over Manchester City: a result which, on paper, is a major boost for Arsenal's pre-season hopes. But it's not that simple.
"It doesn't change a thing for us, we still have our own goals," says Timber. "We want to show what we can do in the Premier League but also in other competitions.
"It [winning at Wembley] is a positive thing for the dressing room. Last year they [Arsenal] showed already they are a serious team, with good players and a good squad.
"They played for the title, and I think this year the expectations are even higher as they bought a lot of players."
Timber is one of those players, but many did not foresee him turning out as an inverted left-back for his first game.
Arsenal briefed the media that he was being signed as a right-back, while Timber has played almost his entire senior career as a central defender. He hadn't played left-back - let alone an inverted one similar to Oleksandr Zinchenko's role last season - since his Ajax reserve team days, which came nearly five years ago.
But Arsenal fans would go on to vote Timber, on the left flank, as player of the match after an impressive 76 minutes at Wembley.
The young defender laughs off which is his best position. "I don't want to say because I don't want the coach to know it!" he chuckles. "I'm happy if I can play to be honest! It doesn't matter where the coach wants to put me. I will do my best and give everything I can."
But Sunday's performance rubberstamps Timber as an ideal Arteta player - a young player who that can take up multiple positions on the pitch.
It is why the Gunners manager made him a priority signing, beginning his summer pitch to the defender in late May. Timber reveals Arteta stressed the family atmosphere - including 'Win' the training ground chocolate labrador - as part of those conversations.
And the young defender has had to think quickly since joining Arteta's set-up - and judging by Sunday's outing at Wembley, it is already paying off.
"It's the way he thinks, the way he makes you better," says Timber of his new manager. "I only had him for a few weeks, but I noticed it very quickly within myself because you need to learn a lot in a short space of time.
"It's the way he looks at the game, so I've been trying to look the same way. He sees the bigger picture in the game so that's what I'm trying to do.
"Let's see what it brings over a couple of months and years."
Follow Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest on the opening weekend of the 2023/24 Premier League season through the Sky Sports live blog, kick-off 12.30pm.
