{"id":618160,"date":"2022-09-25T15:20:56","date_gmt":"2022-09-25T19:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=618160"},"modified":"2022-09-25T15:20:56","modified_gmt":"2022-09-25T19:20:56","slug":"manchester-united-van-dijk-jurrien-timber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/09\/25\/manchester-united-van-dijk-jurrien-timber\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018His Potential Is So High\u2019 &#8211; Virgil van Dijk Praises Manchester United Summer Target"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Virgil van Dijk has lauded <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/09\/24\/rio-ferdinand-alex-ferguson-arch-rivals\/\" target=\"_self\">Manchester United<\/a> target Jurrien Timber as a \u201cprofessional\u201d and stated his \u201cpotential is so high\u201d in a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=d_Eb2VSWmoQ\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pre-match press conference<\/a> for the Netherlands national team.<\/p>\n<h2>Manchester United Tried to Bring Jurrien Timber to Old Trafford in June<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Jurri\u00ebn Timber, doing great again with Ajax and Dutch national team after signing new deal until June 2025 in the summer. \u2b50\ufe0f\ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddf1 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Ajax?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Ajax<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Van Dijk says: \u201cI was never that good at the age of Timber, he\u2019s just 21\u2026 I can only praise him. His potential is so high, I\u2019m sure\u201d. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tdxs2YPoEa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/tdxs2YPoEa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FabrizioRomano\/status\/1573680721511813124?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 24, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>The Ajax Defender Ultimately Decided to Stay at His Club<\/h3>\n<p>United <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fabrizioromano\/status\/1531240010564915200?s=21&amp;t=vHyrjqDIx_yS3oIdbJ3CFQ\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pursued<\/a> Timber throughout the summer transfer window with the player seemingly open to make the move to the Premier League. The 21-year-old then opted to sign a contract extension with Ajax, keeping him in Amsterdam until 2025.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/09\/23\/manchester-united-director-transfer-plans\/\" target=\"_self\">Erik ten Hag<\/a> had already looked to his former club to secure <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/08\/24\/lisandro-martinez-the-butcher\/\" target=\"_self\">Lisandro Martinez<\/a>, who has played a crucial role since arriving in Manchester, and Alfred Schreuder was not allowing both defenders to leave in the same window.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/premier-league-predictions\/\" target=\"_self\">Premier League Predictions<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Regarding Timber\u2019s decision to stay at his club, <a href=\"https:\/\/caughtoffside.substack.com\/p\/the-daily-briefing-how-close-was\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fabrizio Romano said<\/a>: \u201cIt has been speculated that he decided to stay at Ajax in order to ensure he was playing regularly before the World Cup.\u201d He added: \u201cWe\u2019ll see if Manchester United or other big clubs will try again next summer.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Game Time Key for International Call-Ups This Winter &#8211; World Cup Fast Approaching<\/h3>\n<p>Timber has made nine senior appearances for the Netherlands national team and has a strong chance of receiving a call-up for the World Cup if he plays the majority of games for his club until November.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/theeuropeanlad\/status\/1573036137483993088?s=21&#038;t=vHyrjqDIx_yS3oIdbJ3CFQ<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>At United, the young defender may have struggled to compete for a place in the starting 11 with Ten Hag now preferring a partnership of both Martinez and Raphael Varane &#8211; which has proven to be a success. Even club captain <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/09\/20\/manchester-united-harry-maguire-brandon-williams\/\" target=\"_self\">Harry Maguire<\/a> has been forced to take a stint on the substitute bench.<\/p>\n<h3>Liverpool Star Praises Netherlands Teammate<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/09\/20\/ethan-nwaneri-interest\/\" target=\"_self\">Liverpool<\/a>\u2019s Virgil van Dijk has praised his Dutch counterpart prior to Netherlands\u2019 Nations League fixtures this September, saying: \u201cI was never as advanced at the age of Jurrien Timber than he is right now at the age of 21. I can only praise him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe is such a professional and his potential is so high.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/09\/24\/trent-alexander-arnold-liverpool-manchester-united\/\" target=\"_self\">\u2018That Was a Tough One\u2019 \u2013 Trent Alexander-Arnold Speaks on Manchester United Loss<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>United May Continue Pursuit of Timber Next Summer<\/h3>\n<p>Whilst a January move for Timber is unlikely, Ten Hag could look to reunite with his former prodigy once the transfer market opens again at the end of the season. The United manager has already bolstered his squad with two additions he managed during his reign at Ajax; Martinez and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/09\/01\/antony-completes-manchester-united-transfer\/\" target=\"_self\">Antony<\/a>. The players were keen to reunite with Ten Hag.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/09\/23\/bruno-fernandes-manchester-united-solskjaer\/\" target=\"_self\">Former Manchester United Manager\u2019s Words to Bruno Fernandes<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Timber was named Ajax Talent of the Year for the 2021\/2022 campaign. He won two Eredivisie titles under Ten Hag, as well as the KNVB Cup. Once the looming stresses of an international call-up have passed, the young star could decide to join his former manager and teammates and further reach his potential in this new-look United side.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Virgil van Dijk has lauded Manchester United target Jurrien Timber as a \u201cprofessional\u201d and stated his \u201cpotential is so high\u201d in a recent pre-match press conference for the Netherlands national team. Manchester United Tried to Bring Jurrien Timber to Old Trafford in June Jurri\u00ebn Timber, doing great again with Ajax and Dutch national team after [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4249,"featured_media":618187,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8426,8425,18,3],"tags":[9249,7380,756],"class_list":["post-618160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ajax","category-eredivisie","category-manchester-united","category-premier-league","tag-jurrien-timber","tag-manchester-united-transfer-rumours","tag-virgil-van-dijk"],"modified_by":"Nat Goodlad, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4249"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}