Jurrien Timber is more important than Virgil van Dijk and could make Ben White Arsenal’s John Stones
In Jurrien Timber, Arsenal have signed a player who brings 'great football' to every team he plays for.
But aside from shoring up a Gunners back line that became increasingly wobbly in last season's Premier League title run in, he's also been tipped to transform one of his potential teammate's role in the team.
Arsenal's latest summer signing has arrived from Ajax for £40million, ending his nine years with the Amsterdam outfit.
The 22-year-old has been a vital player for both Ajax and the Netherlands, featuring heavily at the 2022 World Cup as the Oranje reached the quarter-finals.
Think of a Dutch Premier League star and Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk and Manchester City's Nathan Ake will spring to mind immediately.
But Timber could soon be reaching that status with Arsenal. That's the view of Netherlands legend Marco van Basten, who believes Timber is more important to the national team than Van Dijk.
“Ajax is playing great football thanks to Jurrien Timber and the National Team is playing great football thanks to him too,” Van Basten said before the defender impressed at the World Cup.
“It's thanks to him that we are able to play so easy out from the back. Jurrien Timber is our biggest strength in defence.
“He always takes the initiative just like Nathan Ake while actually the best defender [Van Dijk] takes the least initiative of the three which is weird, that such a great centre-back does so little in the build-up.
«Timber is never panicking. If you are as good as Timber, you can always remain calm.
“Technically he is good enough and tactically he is also good enough. And that's why he is playing and Matthijs de Ligt is not.»
Although he's been tipped to be a huge boost for Arsenal's defence, fans have also been questioning how
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