Jurriën Timber will visit the club against which he made his Eredivisie debut a year and a half ago with Ajax: sc Heerenveen. Since then, things have gone hard with the center defender, who played Perr Schuurs from the base and can call himself Oranje-international. At the age of twenty, Timber says he still has plenty to learn. “But I think a lot of guys would like to be where I am now. I also enjoy it.”
“For me it is one of my most beautiful matches so far,” says Timber on the club website about his debut in Friesland. Ajax coach Erik ten Hag preferred the then eighteen-year-old Timber to Schuurs on 7 March. He made a big impression and played himself in the starting line-up, which led to a surprising call-up for the the Dutch squad and eventual participation in the European Championship. His performances have placed him in the final 20 contenders for the Golden Boy.
“A lot has happened in a year and a half. For example, I have just returned from the Dutch national team,” continues Timber, who did not play a minute against Latvia (0-1) and Gibraltar (6-0) in the past international match. For the time being, he remains stuck at six international matches in the the Dutch shirt. “A year and a half ago I wouldn’t have thought that I would be there now,” said the mandekker.
Timber thinks he needs to develop himself a lot further. “I am increasingly trying to bring my leadership qualities into the team. I still have to take steps in that,” said Timber, who is very involved with Daley Blind and Lisandro Martínez at Ajax. “But I also look at Thiago Silva and in Dutch. team to Virgil van Dijk, Stefan de Vrij and Matthijs de Ligt. Those guys are watching me too. That’s nice to hear. The competition is great at the Dutch, but that’s part of it.”
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