The 22-year-old defender has told football.london of his injury nightmare at Emirates Stadium: “The beginning was obviously hard. The first few days are painful. My girlfriend helped me a lot. I felt like a baby. The support of my team-mates and the coaches was immense from the moment I heard the news. I remember [Oleksandr] Zinchenko and Mo [Elneny] were at the training ground, everyone was off [that day] and the doctor left me alone for a bit, and they came into my room. They were just talking to me and encouraging me, saying so many positive things. A lot of guys were texting me, because everyone was off so no one was at the club, but they heard what happened and were texting me. They asked if I was okay and the support was immense.”
The one positive about suffering an injury so early in the season is that Timber may recover in time to figure again in the 2023–24 campaign. He is slowly working his way towards full fitness, with the Dutch star adding on that process: “I feel like it’s going pretty quick. I’m making good progress and also the knee is reacting very well so I’m happy with the way things are going. Let’s just see how things are going and how long it will be still.”
Arsenal will not hurry Timber back into action, with the goal being to get him back out on the grass in the coming weeks and thoroughly evaluate his performances in training before making a decision on any potential comeback date.
