Mikel Arteta says that Jurrien Timber is still “weeks” from returning from a groin injury but that the defender is “progressing well”.
Timber, 25, withdrew from the Netherlands’ World Cup squad this summer due to an ongoing groin issue that he initially suffered against Everton in March.
He has been part of Arsenal’s pre-season training preparations, travelling to their camps in Spain and the Republic of Ireland, but has yet to feature in a matchday squad. Arsenal have also been without William Saliba, who is out with a back injury suffered during France’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Spain.
Asked for a timeline on the recovery status of both players, the Arsenal manager said: “I cannot be very precise with that. Jurrien is progressing really well. He’s on the pitch and doing quite a lot right now but is still weeks away (from returning) — I cannot tell you how much.
“Willy (Saliba) is in rest mode at the moment. For two weeks he had to do almost nothing so he did not aggravate the injury. It’s going to take some time to heal and as soon as we have more news we will inform.”
Timber himself told Arsenal’s social media channels that he was taking things “slowly” last month. Ben White, who returned from a medial cruciate ligament injury during the summer, has been Arsenal’s starting right-back throughout pre-season.
Arteta will have players returning to his squad en-masse in the next 24 hours, however, with those who represented England and Spain returning from their post-World Cup holidays.
“Some of them were back today watching the game,” he added. “Some of them, Bukayo (Saka) and David (Raya) were back yesterday, a bit earlier than expected, which is great to see. Tomorrow everyone will be available to start the training programme.”
Even with the staggered returns, Arteta is confident that these returning players will be available for Arsenal’s official start to the 2026-27 season. They travel to Cardiff to face Manchester City on August 16 in the Community Shield before getting the league campaign underway five days later by hosting newly-promoted Coventry City on August 21.
