Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur are keeping tabs on one of Europe’s most underrated midfield talents, and he could arrive in the Premier League with the praise of one Wesley Sneijder burning in his ears.
HITC Football understands that, 12 months after Arsenal completed a £38 million deal for one of the rising stars of Dutch football, the 22-year-old’s twin brother may soon be joining him in North London.
There is interest from Tottenham, while Newcastle United have also sent scouts to the Netherlands in recent months. Quinten Timber certainly shares Jurrien’s Rolls Royce-like qualities in possession but, while the latter’s job is to stop attacks, it often falls upon the former to start them with those trademark box-crashing bursts and those lung-busting dribbles through the heart of an opposition midfield.
Tottenham and Newcastle eye Quinten Timber
Timber, with his surgeon’s scalpel passing and his bludgeoning running power, possesses many of the attributes required from an elite-level ‘number eight’. Just ask Wesley Sneijder, the Netherlands legend and one of the finest attacking midfielders of his generation tipping his young compatriot for a bright future too at both domestic and international level.
“This boy is doing fantastic,” Sneijder, a treble-winner under Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan, tells Vandaag Inside of Timber following the Feyenoord star’s first ever call-up to the senior Dutch squad.
“We can be happy that he is there. And I think (Netherlands boss Ronald) Koeman shares my opinion.
“He can win balls. He conquers all the balls and is everywhere (on the pitch). Defensive, offensive, and he’s getting fitter. He will now also give through balls and can also shoot fantastically. As far as I’m concerned, he (should be) a starter (for the Netherlands).
“I think Koeman is also a fan.”
Will Arsenal make a move?
Timber helped Feyenoord win the Eredivisie for only the second time in the 21st century under Arne Slot last season. He’s gone up another level since then, scoring more goals and providing more assists (seven apiece) than he managed across the entirety of 2022/23.
“You can really use him in that midfield,” adds another Dutch icon, Ruud Gullit. “What a drive that boy has! He also wins a lot of balls. We don’t have many ball grabbers and boys with venom.
“I’m curious (to see him play).”
There should be room at Arsenal for another midfielder, with Jorginho’s contract expiring. Will they too be tempted to make a move, having already snapped up one half of the Timber duo?
Quinten Timber, with his blend of physical and technical gifts not to mention his penchant for driving forward from the left-hand side, could bring to Arsenal the qualities they have arguably lacked in that position since former captain Granit Xhaka departed for Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2022.
For now, however, it is the club from the other side of North London who appear to be preparing a move of their own.
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