Arsenal are so convinced by defender Jurrien Timber that they don’t plan to buy somebody to bring defensive depth in January.
Jurrien Timber is being backed for an enormous future with Arsenal believing that he will become a ‘top, top player’.
Arsenal showed their belief in Timber this summer, forking out a deal worth around £38million.
Timber had impressed with Ajax and Arsenal decided to splash the cash having been attracted to his versatility.
We knew that Timber was an impressive centre back who had played at right back too, but Mikel Arteta immediately started using him as a left back.
Timber was shining for Arsenal but then suffered a major knee injury on the opening weekend of the season, ruling him out for most of the campaign.
Arsenal ‘want to wait’ for Jurrien Timber return
Some had wondered whether Arsenal would return to the market to sign another defender.
That didn’t happen before the summer deadline but the questions remain ahead of January.
Fabrizio Romano has now spoken about this subject on The Here We Go Podcast.
Romano claims that Arsenal have no plans to sign a defender in January because they ‘want to wait for Timber’.
Romano suggests that Arsenal believe that Timber will become a ‘top, top player’ for the next seven years or so, backing him for stardom.
The transfer expert believes that the Gunners will therefore refrain from adding another defender and will simply wait for Timber’s comeback.
“On a defender, they want to wait for Timber,” said Romano. “They believe that Timber is going to be a top, top player for the next five, six, seven years, so they want to wait for him,” he added.
Arsenal have enough versatility to cope at the back
If Arsenal were genuinely worried about their defensive depth, then they wouldn’t have allowed Rob Holding and Kieran Tierney to go.
Both players left the club even after Timber’s injury and it’s because Arteta has depth through versatility.
Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Cedric Soares and Jakub Kiwior have all played in multiple defensive positions for Arteta.
We may see Arteta move his defenders here, there and everywhere to cover for Timber’s injury, which is seen as a better option than adding another defender and potentially stifling Timber’s development going forward.
Let’s just hope that Timber returns from the injury well and can show his best going forward, living up to Arsenal’s hopes and dreams.
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