Arsenal star Jurriën Timber could find himself playing in as many as two new positions during this international break.
Netherlands manager Xavi has admitted that he sees the Arsenal right-back as a “great utility player” for his squad.
Timber is back in Xavi’s squad for this international break as the Netherlands take on Greece on Saturday before travelling to Germany on Monday.
Timber is very likely to add to his 25 appearances in those games. He’s featured in two of their four games under Xavi so far, a 2-1 win over Serbia and the 2-2 draw with Greece. He then spent the following 2-1 win over Serbia on the bench.
Xavi plans
One of those appearances saw him play right-back, while in the other he was in central defender. It seems Xavi has no plans to stop there, though.
In fact, the Netherlands boss seems to have grand plans for the Arsenal man moving forwards.
“Certainly, he’s a great utility player. He can play centrally, as a full-back, and even in midfield,” he said during his press conference.
Xavi also didn’t rule out using him as a left-back. “Absolutely. He’s a versatile defensive option,” the national team coach reiterated. Interestingly, neither of those new positions would actually be new for the Arsenal man.
Nothing new
While Timber has 180 appearances at centre-back and 124 as a right back in his career to date, there have also been jaunts into left back and defensive midfield.
He’s managed 24 appearances playing in the latter – most of which have come at Arsenal – and just the two in the latter. They were both at a youth level for Ajax, though.
He has played at left-back for his country before but never in midfield. So that would be a very new experience for him on the international stage.
Given it could be under a manager whose career was all about shining in midfield, we’re sure he won’t turn down the chance to make an impression. Quite what a Dutch squad full of central midfielder options would make of it, remains to be seen.
