Arsenal rocked as star 'ruled out for rest of the season'

Carlo Garganese

• 22 Nov 2023 17:03 GMT
• 3 min read

Arsenal have been rocked by reports in Holland that Jurrien Timber will miss the rest of the season through injury.

According to Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad , Timber will not recover from his ACL injury before the end of the 2023-24 season and will subsequently miss Euro 2024 also.

On his Premier League debut, during a 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest in August, Timber was forced off with what later confirmed as an ACL injury.

The Dutch defender was forced to undergo surgery and it had been initially hoped that he would be able to return soon after the new year.

However, according to reports in the Netherlands, this initial diagnosis was too optimistic and he will not be back before the end of the season.

This comes as a big blow to manager Mikel Arteta, who will now have to do without his summer signing for virtually all of his debut season in England.

Timber first season written off

Arsenal signed Timber this past summer from Ajax for a fee of €40 million plus €5m in bonuses.

The Gunners had made the signing of a hybrid defender who can play at centre back and right back a priority for the summer transfer window.

It had been hoped that the 22-year-old would help take Arsenal onto the next level - together with fellow summer signings Declan Rice and Kai Havertz - after the Gunners had narrowly missed out on the Premier League title last term.

But disaster struck in his first game for Arsenal and he now risks not returning until next season.

Arsenal had beaten Man Utd to the signing of Timber, who was a player appreciated by current Red Devils coach Erik ten Hag.

Timber made 47 appearances for Ajax last season, while he has been capped 15 times by Netherlands.

He had been expected to play at Euro 2024 for Holland but that now looks unlikely.