Timber will be a BETTER Arsenal signing than Rice and Havertz

Neel Shelat

• 14 Jul 2023 16:13 BST
• 6 min read

Arsenal look set to build on an impressive 2022/23 season with a busy transfer window. Declan Rice is set to join from West Ham, while Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber have already arrived, from Chelsea and Ajax respectively.

Timber is one to be excited about. The Dutchman has the potential to be the best signing of the lot, all things considered. At just 22 years old, he has a long and very promising career ahead of him and should be close to his prime after he arrives at the Emirates Stadium. The transfer fee, inclduing add-ons, is €45 million, which is not too far off from Football Transfers’ Estimated Transfer Value, so Arsenal will not be overpaying for him.

The best part, though, could be Timber’s versatility, which will give the Gunners a lot of options in terms of how they can use him. We will be exploring them in this piece, but first, let us focus on what he brings to the table.

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Versatile and elite ball-playing defender

Born in Utrecht, Timber started his youth career aged four at a local club before joining Feyenoord’s academy along with his twin brother Quinten aged six. In 2014, the pair moved to Ajax’s youth academy and went on to break into the youth team together in 2018. Their paths diverged thereafter, as Jurrien managed to break into the senior side in the 2020/21 season but Quinten failed to do so and left for Utrecht at the end of the season.

Jurrien’s stock has only been rising since. After starting close to half of Ajax’s league matches in 2020/21, he played an integral role in Erik ten Hag’s last season at the club when they won the league again and enjoyed a record-breaking Champions League group stage campaign. In the most recent season, he started every single one of his side’s Eredivisie games and was the only player in the squad to rack up more than 3,000 minutes in the competition.

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And he was rather good.

The thing that stands out in that pizza chart is Timber’s possession game. Of course, it helps that he played for what was by far the most ball-dominant side in the league, but his abilities should not be understated. The 22-year-old Dutchman is truly elite in all things on the ball, be it retention and security, press resistance or progression through passing, carrying and even receiving.

These qualities have allowed him to play a number of roles for Ajax. He is predominantly a right-footed centre-back, but seems to be at his best when playing on the right of a back-three where he has more freedom to display his on-ball qualities. He even is adept enough to operate in midfield, as he did at times in the 2021/22 season when he started as a right back.

For that reason, his work in 2021/22 showcased the full diversity of his skillset, so that is what we will examine closely.

First of all, a look at his touch-map shows the various regions he operated in, especially in the right half-space both in his own half and in the opposition half.

Timber’s ball-carrying certainly stands out, as he always looks to drive forward when he sees open space in front of him. He is quite quick across the ground and always keeps the ball well within his control, so he could average close to 12 progressive carries per 90 without giving the ball away too much.

The young Dutchman’s passing is not half-bad either. His first preference always seems to be line-breaking passes down the middle, but he is careful not to attempt anything too risky and does not mind spreading the ball out to either wing either. In this manner too, he helps his side progress the ball while maintaining a very high level of security.

Timber’s in-possession game is already close to faultless, so the aspects he should be looking to improve first are defensive. At Ajax, he always behaved as a very high-intensity defender who tried to stay as tight to his opponents as possible and shadowed them as they dropped deep, leading to a very scattered defensive actions map.

While he is quite strong in duels (especially on the ground) and uses his body strength well to muscle opponents off the ball, he can be seen overcommitting sometimes too. He tends to always follow opponents right on their back, so he can get spun against agile forwards. He is not the best at defending one-on-one either, as he tends to get squared up sometimes.

One of Timber’s qualities that helps him make up for these deficiencies is his extremely rapid pace, which often enables him to recover when caught out high up the pitch. With the right partners, his tendencies can be used to form a pretty formidable back line.

Fit at Arsenal

Last season, Arsenal used a 3-2-5 system in possession created by left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko inverting and the right-back staying deep. If they continue to operate that way, Timber should be expected to slot in quite seamlessly in that right-back role ahead of the likes of Benjamin White and Takehiro Tomiyasu.

But, as we mentioned at the start, he gives them a few other options too. For one, they might be able to create the 3-2-5 shape in possession by getting him to invert into midfield from the right. Zinchenko would not be best-suited to staying deep on the left in such a system, so they might want to use Jakub Kiwior instead and keep this system as a back-up for when the Ukrainian international is unavailable.

Another way to create the 3-2-5 shape is to get a centre-back to push into midfield as Manchester City did with John Stones in the second half of the last season. Timber would certainly be able to replicate that role, but Arsenal do not currently have the right squad structure in their defensive positions for this to be their first-choice system.

In any case, Timber’s versatility means that he should be able to find a regular spot in the Arsenal XI next season, so expect him to excel in the Premier League.