Jurrien Timber is expected to follow Declan Rice through the door at Emirates Stadium as Arsenal look to finalise a £145million double swoop. The Ajax star was specifically identified by Gunners boss Mikel Arteta and initial conversations resulted in Timber also wanting the move.
Bayern Munich appeared firmly in the race until Timber's choice was made clear, while Manchester United never really showed their hand despite pushing hard to sign him last summer. A £30million bid was the opening offer from Arsenal to test the water and although it was swiftly turned down, an agreement now looks to have been reached.
As reported by Dutch outlet De Telegraaf in June, the Gunners have agreed to pay an initial €42million (£36million) transfer fee and with add-ons the deal could rise to €47million (£40million). The intricacies of the payment plan also look likely to soon be finalised with both parties keen to get the deal over the line which has seen talks accelerate this weekend, as per the Evening Standard.
The upcoming week could be monumental for Arteta and Edu with as many as four major announcements on the cards. New contracts for William Saliba and Reiss Nelson have been signed and, with the date for players seeing their contract expire in the summer of 2023 now gone, both could be confirmed soon.
Rice's £105million transfer to north London is also close with the Sun reporting that West Ham expect the final details of the move to be sorted by Monday. Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has also now revealed that sources close to the deal for Timber expect his transfer to be complete by some point next week with precise payment terms still being discussed before a medical will be scheduled.
After posting a cryptic tweet on Saturday morning, Timber has made another decision that could hint his move to Arsenal will be announced in the early stages of next week rather than towards the end. According to Dutch outlet Algemeen Dagblad (AD), the 22-year-old was not present for Ajax's first outdoor training session to begin preparations for the 2023/24 campaign.
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The report does note that some players who featured for their international teams following the domestic season concluding were not present and although Timber would fit into that category, he did not play a single minute for the Netherlands in their recent fixtures.
Despite missing the team session, Timber has already started his own preparations for the next campaign by completing solo work in the gym ahead of his impending move to Arsenal.
