Timber: "I’ve always been a fan of Arsenal"

As a youngster at Ajax, Jurrien Timber was asked what his ambitions were for the next five years. He replied that he wanted to be in the Ajax first team and then leave for England or Spain.

When pressed on what club he would like to join, he simply stated: ‘I’ve always been a fan of Arsenal.’

Today he realised that dream, becoming our second signing of the summer after starring for Ajax and the Dutch national team last season.

Explaining his love of the club, Jurrien said: “It was because of my brothers. They were always Arsenal fans, and I just loved seeing Arsenal play. They had big players, the way they played, the style. I just love the club.

“I had this from a young age, but my brothers kind of put that in me. I liked watching Robin van Persie of course, and Thierry Henry. They were my favourite players.”

The 22-year-old defender, who made more than 120 appearances for the Ajax first team over the past three years, arrives with a burgeoning reputation, and is delighted to be making his first move out of Dutch football.

“There are a couple of players [who have come here from Ajax], but there have been not a lot. So I think it's special to be here as an Ajax player and it’s special that they notice you and they see me as the player I am.

“I’m really excited, especially now I'm here. Everyone is so nice and you can see it's a big club. I'm excited to play for this beautiful club, and I can't wait to start, and to see the fans obviously in the stadium.” 

Comfortable playing either centrally or the right side of defence, Jurrien said he doesn’t have a preference where he operates, and thinks his style will be perfectly suited to Arsenal and the Premier League.

“I think that I'm lucky to say that I can play as a central defender, as a right full-back, sometimes even on the midfield,” he explained. “So I think that's a good thing and I need to keep that. 

“I just like the way Arsenal play, is a bit similar to Ajax’s style and I like to play from the back. I can see a lot of similarities, especially in the way Arsenal and Ajax want to play."

Watch the first part of our interview with Jurrien by clicking play on the video above, and find out much more about our new recruit by learning 12 things about our new number 12.