Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says he is “excited” about the return of Jurrien Timber to his side.
The 23-year-old defender missed the majority of the 2023-24 season due to an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in his right knee that he sustained during the first game of the campaign.
Timber returned to first-team action in the final game of last season and has travelled to the United States for Arsenal’s pre-season tour as he steps up his recovery.
When asked about the Netherlands international, Arteta said: “He is a winner, you can see that in his body language and the way he acts that he has worked so hard.
“I think he is in a really good place at the moment. We are going to have to manage him now in the next few weeks because the load he has been able to do in the last few months compared to the next two weeks is very different but we are very excited about him.
“He has a great environment around him and hopefully that will make him a better player. He is a leader. He loves to be on show and a big presence in everything that we do. He is very vocal and extremely gifted technically. He is a great addition to the team.”
Timber’s teammate and fellow defender Takehiro Tomiyasu was not included in Arsenal’s travelling squad due to an injury he picked up in training.
Tomiyasu has never made more than 22 league appearances in his three seasons at Arsenal (Alex Pantling – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
The Japan international has struggled to maintain fitness in recent seasons with several injury issues resulting in him missing large periods of game time.
“It is unbelievable because the kid works so hard and he had an incident in training and we don’t know yet the extent of that injury,” Arteta said on Tomiyasu’s latest setback. “For precaution, we kept him there and we’ll see what happens. (It happened) this week.”
Meanwhile, The Athletic has reported that Arsenal are accelerating their efforts to sign Bologna defender Riccardo Calafiori.
When asked for an update on Arsenal’s pursuit of the Italy international, Arteta added: “No, unfortunately not but obviously we know there are certain positions that we want to improve and give the squad better resources in terms of numbers where we are short.
“We will try our best but the main thing is to focus on falling in love with the players we have and make them better.”
Arsenal begin their pre-season tour with a friendly against Bournemouth on Thursday before facing Manchester United on 28th July and then Liverpool on August 1.
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(Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
