‘Like a new signing’: Jurrien Timber back on the grass as he dribbles paste three players to score a goal in Arsenal’s training camp in Dubai… SEE VIDEO
Arsenal suffered a major injury blow when defender Jurrien Timber was filmed speeding up his recovery from a serious knee injury.
The 22-year-old Timber arrived in north London during the summer transfer window after moving to the Emirates Stadium from Ajax for £34m as Arsenal looked to accelerate their pursuit of silverware. But the defender was replaced by Mikel Arteta in the first game of the season against Nottingham Forest just 50 minutes after his Premier League debut, and it was later revealed that he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
Five months later, the Gunners have released an update on Timber’s road to recovery from the long-term injury, having released a video of the player training in Dubai with the rest of his squad. The Dutch international worked with the ball without his teammates for the first time since the injury.
Timber told football.london in December that he could return to Arsenal in the near future. “It seems to be going very fast,” he said of his recovery. “I am making good progress and the knee is responding very well, so I am happy with how things are going. We’ll see how it goes and how long it will take.”
“The support from my teammates and coaches has been huge from the moment I heard the news,” he added. “I remember [Oleksandr] Zinchenko and Mo [Elneny] were at training, they were all absent [that day], the doctor left me alone for a while and they came to my room.
‘ They talked to me and encouraged me, they said a lot of positive things. A lot of the guys texted me because they were all away so there was no one in the club, but they heard what was happening and they texted me. They asked me if I was okay and the support was huge.”
