Liverpool hero Virgil van Dijk and Dutch icon Marco van Basten have both heaped praise on Arsenal’s newest signing Jurrien Timber.
Arsenal have completed the signing of Jurrien Timber from Ajax and if the comments of Virgil van Dijk are anything to go off, Mikel Arteta and Edu have signed an unbelievable talent.
The Gunners had a £30million bid for Timber rebuffed by Ajax in June,football.londonunderstands.Their proposal was then increased which saw an agreement struck at €40million (£34.2million) with a potential further €5million (£4.3million) in add-ons.
At 22, Timber has already broken into the Ajax first team and played numerous games at the senior level for the Netherlands. Having played alongside him, Liverpool defєɴԀer van Dijk has nothing but positive things to say about his fellow countrymen.
“I wasn’t nearly as far along as he is now [at the same age],” Van Dijk said when asked about Timber last year. “I have nothing but praise for him.
“He is a great player and a true professional. He has so much potential. Hopefully, he can develop further. Then it will be all right, I think.”
Van Dijk’s compatriot Marco van Basten has also heaped praise on Timber in the past, singling out the youngster’s quality in the build-up phase. Speaking last year onRondo on Ziggo Sport, viaTalksport, Van Basten said: “Ajax is playing great football thanks to Jurrien Timber and the National Team is playing great football thanks to him too
“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 defєɴԀer [Virgil 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.”
