Jurrien Timber might have just let Mikel Arteta’s true feelings about Ben White slip in shock confession

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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta took a peculiar approach when handling Jurrien Timber’s injury.

Marginally before the 2024/25 campaign ended, it was announced that Timber underwent surgery to resolve an ankle issue.

The Dutchman played a crucial role in Arsenal’s season at right-back, which was a relief after the 24-year-old’s ACL injury destroyed his debut year in N5.

Timber made 48 appearances last season on the back of his ACL recovery, but the defender fell agonisingly short of completing the campaign due to his surgery.

• READ MORE: Jurrien Timber wants Arsenal to make North London Derby change that all fans will agree with

Mikel Arteta’s trust in Arsenal defender Ben White questioned 

In a recent interview, Timber revealed the extent of his injury and how it impacted him in the latter stages of the season.

While explaining the gruelling pain and limited action in training in the build-up to Arsenal’s Champions League semi-final second-leg clash with PSG, the Netherlands international admitted that Arteta perhaps wasn’t aware of his struggles.

“It hurt so much. The manager thinks: ‘Jur has had a scan, it can’t get worse, make sure you’re ready’, but he doesn’t see how much pain I’m in,” Timber said.

Though Arteta was aware of Timber having a limited contribution in training and doubting whether he could play the match, the Arsenal manager wasn’t prepared for the show to go on without his favoured right-back.

Timber played 83 minutes of the semi-final second leg, which poses the question as to where Ben White was in Arteta’s thoughts at the time.

White was Arsenal’s favoured right-back from the 2022/23 season to 2024/25, when Timber took his place as a starter amid an injury-tainted campaign for the Englishman.

Still, White was available to play against PSG at a time when his teammate was struggling quite significantly with pain, which could suggest Arteta’s lack of trust in the player.

White had been warned about Timber with regard to his claim to the starting XI, and by not getting into the back four while the Dutchman was injured is rather concerning.

There’s an array of possibilities as to why Arteta didn’t call on the former Brighton ace, one being a possible lack of trust in a game of that magnitude, and another being a problem that Arsenal struggled with all season. 

How fit really was Ben White?

Arteta loves White, so there’s little chance that the Spaniard was doubtful over whether he could trust the right-back, but why didn’t he take Timber’s place?

Like the 24-year-old, White underwent surgery during the campaign, adding his name to Arsenal’s extensive injury list over 2024/25. 

Ordinarily, it would be assumed that Arteta would simply replace Timber with White to protect the Dutchman, but it didn’t happen, opening the door to the theory that the Englishman was lacking fitness himself.

White played only 612 of a possible 1,260 minutes after returning from surgery, which, while acknowledging that he was being eased back into action, suggests he wasn’t at full fitness.

Timber’s revelation about having to play through his injury painted a peculiar narrative about White, and while conclusions are speculative, one certainty is that the pair will be thankful that the season is over.