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Arsenal are on the cusp of signing Jurrien Timber from Ajax for €45m, securing the Gunners another major summer transfer deal.
However, while Kai Havertz and Declan Rice both make sense – the pair are an upgrade on Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey and will still enable Arsenal to continue playing the game successful system they implemented to great effect last season – Timber is slightly more puzzling.
The Dutchman doesn’t seem to be a natural fit anywhere, and Arsenal have moved for him when a host of Europe’s top clubs have been hesitant, so what exactly has Mikel Arteta seen that others haven’t? After all, Ajax often sell their most promising players to the biggest clubs in world football – so far, there have been no takers for Timber.
Well, as FourFourTwo‘s Adam Clery highlights in the video above, Timber offers a progression to the tactics that served Mikel Arteta so well during the 2022/23 campaign.
Ranking among the best ball-playing centre-backs in Europe’s top five leagues and the Eredivisie last season, Timber is still relatively conservative when it comes to his passing. Despite his caution, he does still manage to produce defence-splitting through balls regularly.
He’s also not the most physically imposing either. At just 5ft 10, Timber isn’t as aggressive another high profile small centre-back – his former central defensive partner Lisandro Martinez, which suggests he wouldn’t succeed in the heart of Arsenal’s defence.
However, what the 22-year-old does offer is the chance for Arsenal to create their famous box midfield through multiple avenues. Currently Oleksandr Zinchenko is the only player in the Gunners team capable of filling in to central midfield as an inverted full-back.
Inevitably, teams will soon work this out. Which is why Timber’s signing is so intriguing.
Coming in from ‘right-back’, Timber can also play as one of the deeper midfielders in Arsenal’s system when they have the ball, leaving opposition teams guessing and adding more strings to the team’s attack.
This versatility mid-game gives flexibility to Arsenal’s tactics, thus providing them with more options to win games, and, ultimately, challenge Manchester City for the Premier League title even more vociferously than they managed in May.
More Arsenal stories
Arsenal transfer news is ramping up this summer, with the Gunners set to loosen their wage structure to attract the best players.
Jurrien Timber looks to be next to join, Moises Caicedo is heavily linked, Xavi Simons is on the radar, Ivan Fresneda could join, though Arsenal could sell £100m worth of players, too. Romeo Lavia is in the crosshairs – though Liverpool want him, too.
Meanwhile Folarin Balogun is being valued at £50m.
