Arsenal defender Jurrien Timber has been struggling for fitness in the last few weeks, and a new update has revealed why the Gunners star has been missing from the matchday squad recently.
Jurrien Timber Injury Update
Timber’s Injury-Racked Season
Suffering a cruciate ligament tear on his Premier League debut for Arsenal in 2023, Timber has since recovered and made 51 appearances for the club.
But Timber’s season has not been without knocks, illnesses, or muscular injuries. As a result, the defender has missed 13 games.
Towards the end of this season, Timber has been struggling for fitness yet again. Arteta mentioned him in his last press conference and gave a pretty vague update on his fitness. It seemed like Timber might have been close to playing a part against Newcastle United.
Arteta gave updates on a few of the injured stars, including Timber, saying: “They’ve done parts of the session, not a complete session,” he added. “We’re going to have to wait and see tomorrow if they can deal with things that they haven’t done because they weren’t ready to that at the end of the week.”
The last time Timber played was in the 2-1 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League semi-final.
Timber Injury Revealed
Arsenal have been keeping Timber’s real injury status under wraps. The latest update reveals that Timber has an ankle problem which will require surgery to fix him for next season.
It certainly seems as though he will miss the rest of this season, but how long he’ll take to recover through summer is still unclear.
Sam Dean from the Telegraph said: “Exclusive: Jurrien Timber is set to undergo an ankle procedure. The #AFC full-back has been managing fitness issues in recent weeks and the club’s medical staff have decided he needs a procedure to address the problem. It remains unclear how long he will be ruled out.”
Timber joined Arsenal in the summer of 2023 and has become a crucial part of the Arsenal side ever since. Arteta really values Timber, saying: “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.”
Scoring two goals and notching four assists for the Gunners, Timber has also helped keep seven Premier League clean sheets this season.
Having signed a five-year contract with the club in July 2023, Timber can still make up for lost time at Arsenal. The 21-year-old has quickly found his feet in the Premier League and has 18 caps for the Netherlands.
For Timber, it has been a dream move to a club that he loved watching with his brothers as a kid, admiring the likes of Robin van Persie and Thierry Henry. He now fits Arteta’s system well and has made the right-back berth his own.
Commenting on his fellow defenders, Timber said: “But the whole backline, I think the level is insane. I think we push each other and I’m just lucky to be a part of it.”