Jurrien Timber is set to miss most of the season.
After right-back Jurrien Timber’s injury, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta could end up turning to a “forgotten” star at the Emirates Stadium.
After just missing out on their first Premier League title in nearly 20 years last season – beaten at the hands of treble-winning Man City – Arsenal are aiming to mount yet another serious challenge.
Arteta’s side displayed serious ambition over the summer transfer window, sealing a quartet of deals amounting to around £200 million. Club-record signing Declan Rice, who joined from West Ham for around £105m, stands out as their most-headline grabbing capture.
They also bought goalkeeper David Raya, forward Kai Havertz and inverted right-back option Timber.
However, it didn’t take long for the latter new signing to suffer his first major blow. Timber, after an opening day injury against Nottingham Forest, was sidelined for around seven months with an ACL tear.
What does Arsenal coach thinks
Speaking after the news, Arteta was left devastated, calling it a “huge blow”.
“It is a huge blow. Especially for him after just joining the club. We recruited him with clear intentions and what he was bringing to the team was evident,” Arteta said.
“I’m more thinking about the resources in the team to do what we want to do. But it’s true he was giving us a lot on both sides.
“We didn’t plan obviously with this injury, we have to assess now what the options are, what the best way is to get the best out of the players we have. As I said, my biggest challenge now is to get the best out of the players we have.”
Who is Cedric Soares?
Ben White started at right-back during Arsenal’s latest 3-1 win over Man United just prior to the international break, but now reporter Paul Brown has claimed that outcast Cedric Soares could also be an option.
The Portuguese was heavily linked with a move away in the summer.
