Arsenal has received a timely injury update on the possible return date of defender Jurrien Timber.
Twenty-two-year-old Timber was withdrawn after 50 minutes of the opening game of the Premier League season against Nottingham Forest and it later emerged that he had suffered a cruciate ligament tear. The Dutch international was initially assessed to be out for a “prolonged period”.
However, the @MoArsenal86 account on X (officially Twitter) claimed today that the youngster is planning to return for Arsenal’s Champions League match against FC Porto in February. football.london previously reported that the former Ajax player is likely to return to the first team any time between March and May.
Of course, it is unlikely that Timber will train with his teammates anytime soon, but it is possible that the defender could train on his own outside once he recovers from injury. Speaking to football.london earlier this month, Timber personally admitted that he wants to return earlier than originally planned, in the hope that he will still be able to contribute to the 2023/24 season with the Gunners.
“I seem to be going very fast,” he said of his recovery. “I’m progressing well and the knee is responding very well, so I’m happy with the way things are going. Let’s just see how it goes and how long it will take.”
“The support from my teammates and coaches has been tremendous 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 were texting me because they were all away so there was nobody in the club, but they heard what happened and they texted me. They asked me if I was OK and the support was huge.”