It’s going down, we’re yelling Timber, you better move, you better dance. Apologies to Ke$ha and Pitbull for that. Yes, Ajax central defender Jurrien Timber, 21, who has been strongly linked with a move to several clubs, is apparently on the move to North London.
According to the Mirror, “Jurrien Timber believes he has a verbal agreement with Ajax that will let him join Arsenal.”
And there have been multiple reports indicating that Timber has already agreed to personal terms with Arsenal. But here’s the kicker! He went on his Instagram account and posted a video of himself, in the Reels section, not the profile’s feed, captioning it: “Living in the moment”.
The song he chose for the clip was by a rapper named Gunna, a not so subtle allusion to the club’s nickname, the Gunners. In other words, he’s making it pretty obvious as to what’s going on right now.
So the only thing left, to get this done, is the transfer fee agreement. The Daily Mail reports that Ajax “rejected a £30 million bid earlier this week and want £50 million to sell their youngster.”
Meanwhile Metro claims that “a bid between €40m (£35m) and €50m (£43m) should be enough to secure a deal and Timber is eager to join the north Londoners.”
Having already procured Kai Havertz, Arsenal would strongly like to make Jurrien Timber their second signing of the summer.
Timber would provide cover for Ben White, or perhaps challenge and then succeed him in the starting position. Jurrien Timber was strongly linked with a move to Man United last summer, but people got in his ear to stop that from happening.
His national team manager Louis van Gaal (yes, the same man who managed United from 2014-2016) strongly advised against the idea, believing it would hurt the defender’s chances of making the Netherlands World Cup roster last year.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
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