Mikel Arteta says his decision to play Jurrien Timber at centre-back against Manchester United was to maintain Benjamin White s chemistry on the right.
Timber showed lots of promise in pre-season last summer after completing a £34million transfer from Ajax.
However, he tore his ACL on his Premier League debut against Nottingham Forest.
The Dutch international did not return for until the last day of the season, coming off the bench in the 2-1 win over Everton.
Timber did not earn a place in Ronald Koeman s Netherlands squad for Euro 2024 after missing the entirety of 2023/24 but is back to full fitness and again shining in pre-season for the Gunners.
His versatility has been on show this summer, with Arteta playing him in centre-back next to yo…
Manchester United will sign Bayern Munich defenders Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs De Ligt this month if all goes to plan , according to reports.
The Red Devils have been in talks with the German giants over the double signing of the Moroccan and Netherlands internationals.
manager Erik ten Hag loves signing former players or those who have played in the Eredivisie, and this would be no different.
Both players were at Ajax when Ten Hag was manager in the Dutch capital, with De Ligt in particular integral to the club s run to the Champions League semi-finals in 2019.
When he was 19 years old, De Ligt joined Juventus for over £70million and completed a move to Bayern in 2022 for around £60m.
It didn t work out for the 24-year-old in Turin and i…