After a season in which he developed stormily, Jurriën Timber wants to do even better next year. The twenty-year-old defender speaks in an interview with the General Newspaper clear ambitions with Ajax: the cup, the title and wintering in the Champions League. On a personal level, Timber also wants to ‘show more’, now ‘start really well’ and ‘play well all season’.
Timber says that since he joined Jong Ajax he has set his goals by writing them down in a booklet. In addition, he has a lot to do with his family, but also with the staff of Ajax. “It’s not like I tell them about my goals. I do write what I think I need. They can of course help a lot with that and that’s why I knock on their door. The same goes for teammates.”
“Dusan (Tadic, ed.), when it comes to nutrition and physical, for example. For the football part I have a lot of Daley. In this way you find out things, you get to work with them and you grow. I am very much with Ryan Gravenberch and Devyne Rensch. We hang out a lot and also push each other to get better,” Timber continues. “All kinds of little things that together are very important for your development. We take each other on that.”
Timber sat down with trainer Erik ten Hag after the European Championship. According to the defender, the coach is now raising the bar, something that he finds ‘beautiful and important’. “He thinks I have leadership qualities and wants me to propagate that leadership more and more. We have been working on this since the end of last season. There is also something about that in my writing. Something about everything. This is part of getting better. With a new status, now that I’m a basic player, that has nothing to do. I don’t get any different from that. I’m not easily impressed either. Things get used to quickly for me.”
At the European Championship, Timber played in three of the four games. Personally, he speaks of a ‘great time’, but at the same time it does not sit well with the the Dutch unnecessarily flew out in the eighth final against the Czech Republic. “During my vacation I often thought about it. Also because the EC was still in progress. That’s where we should have been, I thought. I’m curious about Louis van Gaal. I only know him from TV. Whether I stay there depends on how I perform at Ajax. That’s how I came in and that’s how I want to stay.”