Timber's time: Jurrien hopes to come back better

Jurrien Timber’s move to Arsenal in the summer was the first time he had joined a team outside of his home country. But maybe more significantly, it was also the first time he’d ever changed clubs without his twin brother by his side.

Now 22, Jurrien has been a member of a football team for as long as he can remember – since he was just four years old in fact – and every time he had moved to a new club, his twin Quinten made the move too. Until, that is, his move from Ajax to Arsenal last July.

The two brothers – the youngest of five siblings – have been together in every aspect of their life, every step of the way, up until a few years ago. So Jurrien is perfectly placed to talk about what togetherness is. Indeed he barely knows what it means to be apart.

Born in Utrecht, right in the very centre of the Netherlands, in June 2001, Jurrien and Quinten joined their local club DVSU before they had even started school.

“Yeah, I was four when I joined,” the defender explains, “just a small team, and played there for two years, and got scouted quite quickly, then left when I was six, to join Feyenoord.

“Maybe because I was with my twin, I got noticed quicker, and maybe we were better than the others!” he smiles.

So what was Jurrien like as a young kid? Did he find he had to speak out more to get noticed alongside his twin?
“Well I don’t think we were quiet guys,” he reveals, “but we weren’t the loudest, we weren’t captain or anything like that. But yes in the team, I think we were among the leaders in the group.

"At that age I played with my twin, but also my older brother Dylan, and he was also scouted to go to Feyenoord, when we were six and he was seven.”

The brothers continued their progress in Rotterdam with Feyenoord, with Jurrien settling down into his defensive role when he was about 10 or 11. Then at the age of 12, Feyenoord’s big rivals Ajax came calling – again both junior Timbers moved together.

“Dylan had already left Feyenoord by then,” he recalls, “but I think it made it easier moving to a new club with Quinten, because we were always together.

“At that stage you don’t really realise, when I look back on it now, it was easier. You have someone there alongside you, and it was never that difficult to join somewhere new.”

The two continued their journey at Ajax, only parting when Quinten moved to Utrecht in 2021. Until then – for 20 years – they had spent virtually every single day of their lives in each other’s company. They even were together on international duty – both representing the Netherlands at U15, U16, U17, U19 and U21 levels.

“Yes, that’s why we are so close. We did the same thing at school, and with football, so every day we were together, everywhere we went, we were together and we even had the same friends.

“So it’s interesting, but that’s all we knew. We were so used to it, until the point we split up, which was when he went to Utrecht. Until then we had basically been together every single day. But still somehow, it wasn’t strange when we did eventually split ways. I don’t know why, but it felt normal. I knew it would happen someday. It felt quite natural, like it was with my other brothers.”

"These months will definitely make me stronger. It’s an opportunity for me to do well"

So did they even join in each other’s hobbies? Play in other sports teams together?

“I didn’t play anything other than football – I didn’t have time!” Jurrien explains. “It was just football and school, because you don’t have much space for anything else.

“I watched basketball a lot, to be honest I like to watch all sports, but I didn’t play them. Last weekend I went to watch a rugby game, it was Saracens. I enjoyed it, and I understand it a bit more now which makes it more enjoyable too. I like to watch darts on the TV as well. I just loving watch sport, and seeing people compete.”

Two years after Quinten left Ajax for Utrecht, Jurrien was on the move too, leaving the Netherlands for the first time to join us, in July 2023. The first move where Quinten was not by his side.

“Now you say that, it’s true,” Jurrien smiles” – it’s the first time I had joined somewhere without Quentin signing at the same time, but I did not realise really, because everything went smoothly.

“Apart from the injury, the move has been really good to be honest. I’ve had some time to integrate to the club and to London while I’ve been injured.

“It’s a different opportunity to get to know London and to feel at home. That was the positive side of it, and I’ve done that and now I do feel at home. I feel comfortable at the club, with the boys and the staff, but also where I live.”

So far Jurrien has only had a few chances to show what he can offer the team since signing. He impressed in pre-season matches during our US summer tour, and in the Emirates Cup against Monaco, before helping us beat Manchester City in the Community Shield at Wembley. But then he suffered a heart-breaking ACL injury in the opening Premier League game of the season, at home to Nottingham Forest on August 12.

He’s been out of action ever since. But last month he travelled with the squad to Dubai to step up his recovery, and there is certainly light at the end of the tunnel now, with Mikel Arteta saying he is hopeful of seeing the summer signing in action again this season.

But Jurrien believes the last few months have not been wasted by any means. He has been able to integrate into life at his new club, taking the extra time afforded by his enforced layoff to settle into his surroundings and get to know his teammates.

“Of course at some points it’s been difficult,” he admits, “because you’re not playing, and that’s the thing you love to do.

“Sometimes you really want to join the team – when you are enjoying the game so much you really want to get down there and be part of it. That’s frustrating, because sometimes it looks so amazing you want to be part of it. But I use that as motivation during my recovery. I see the boys a lot, at the training ground but also at the games, and that’s been good for me too.

“These months will definitely make me stronger,” he adds. “It’s an opportunity for me to do well. So even though I’m not playing, I can take this moment to become stronger mentally, physically, and also to feel at home with this group of boys. It’s an opportunity I’ve taken with both hands. I’ve had some more time to watch the team, see how we play, how I can fit in when I get on the pitch, so looking at the positives, I think there have been many.”

So what has Jurrien made of his new teammates? “It’s nice that we have some young players,” he smiles. “That made it easier for me to come in, but I have to say that although this group is young, when they are on the pitch you don’t notice it. When I watch us play, I forget how young they are because they look like they’ve played here for 10 years.”

But more than this, he loves the diversity among the group. “For that’s what makes a good team spirit,” he states. “You need to have a good mix of players and people. Every player has their own quality and characteristics, and you also need a hungry group that wants to win prizes and fight for each other.

“You also need experienced players, younger players and players from different backgrounds even. A real mix is very important. Then from there you need to click together with what the manager and the coaches want from you. As soon as that clicks, you can do amazing things.”

"I’ve had some more time to watch the team, see how we play, how I can fit in when I get on the pitch"

And it extends beyond the playing staff, he says. “The staff behind us are as amazing as the team itself, and I know it’s something that has been worked on a lot, to have that humble organisation and love for everyone.

“It’s a great environment to work in, with respect, and everyone who works here – the chefs, the physios – it’s one big team. For me as a new player that was really nice to come into. In my first few weeks here, on tour in America, we had a group barbecue with games and all the staff were involved, and we did that again in Dubai recently.”

So Jurrien’s actual family and the Arsenal family have now converged, and he couldn’t be happier, even if it means much more travelling for his mum in order to stay close to her sons.

“My family have been visiting me, definitely, they try to come over, even though I’ve not been playing,” he says. “But with my brothers playing in the Netherlands, sometimes it’s hard for them to be everywhere.

“It’s very close to the Netherlands though and is easy to get here, so yes, they’ve been around, and helping support me while I am injured too. I’ve got four brothers and two of them are playing football as well. But I think it’s a real blessing for our family. My mum tries to be everywhere, and when I’m playing I think she will try to be in London as well. It’s something very nice though, because not everyone has that in their family, so I try to support my brothers too and watch their games. It’s a beautiful thing.”

And Quinten? It’s the first time the twins have lived in different countries in their lives, but they’ve got together when possible.

“He’s been over twice since I joined,” he says of his brother, a midfielder who left Utrecht to rejoin Feyenoord in 2022. “He had Champions League games this season, so it was difficult, but in the first international break he came over, and he had some time off at Christmas too, and came over to watch a game with me at the Emirates. So it was good to see him.”

And hopefully next time the twins are together in the stadium, Jurrien will be on the pitch rather than in the stands.