Jurrien Timber had an unlucky start to his Premier League career, playing only 50 minutes before suffering a long-term injury that would keep him out for months.
After months of rehabing his ACL injury, it appeared like the Dutch international was close to returning from injury. Those who followed Arsenal’s Dubai training camp were convinced that the 2022 summer signing was close to returning from injury. Timber, according to many, was expected to return to action for Arsenal in February, given his success in training during the training camp in Dubai.
As excited as these fans are, Mikel Arteta has encouraged them to temper their expectations. He also wants his No. 12 back, but he does not anticipate him to return anytime soon; in fact, he believes the versatile defender, even if he returns, may need time to find his sharpness, implying that fans should be patient.
Arteta told reporters, “There is a possibility, but at the moment he’s still very far from competing. Are we hopeful that he could have a realistic impact before the end of the season? At the moment, it looks like that.”
Many believed the ex-Ajax player was the real deal after seeing glimpses of brilliance when he featured for Arsenal in preseason and games leading up to the start of the 2023–24 season. It may be hard to know how much Arsenal has missed without him.
That said, I hope he returns to action soon, even if Arteta says otherwise.
Darren N
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Being realistic and not wishing to rush the player back and cause more damage, it is safe to say we will not see him in an Arsenal shirt this season.
This type of injury takes months and months to recover from and I’d be surprised if Timber plays at all.
Bad luck for him
Slow and steady is the mantra for rehab in the case of ACL injuries.Timber is very quick for a centre back and let’s hope the injury does not impact on his pace when he returns..
Unfortunately it will
Bonus if he plays this season…lets ensure he is fully fit for next season and not rushed back and injured again as we have other positions we need to spend money on.
An ACL recovery, prior to returning to full training, is a minimum of 9 months plus then a gradual introduction to competitive minutes.Thats assuming no setbacks.
If he makes the bench before end of season that should be our limit of expectation.