Jurrien Timber leaves Arsenal pre-season camp in latest injury blow

Jurrien Timber has left Arsenal ’s pre-season camp in Spain for a check-up on his long-standing groin injury. Dutch defender Timber missed most of the final two months of last season due to the injury. He did make a substitute appearance in the Champions League final defeat to PSG , but then missed the World Cup. Timber has now returned to London from Spain, though the BBC reports that it is part of his rehabilitation timeline and the 25-year-old has not suffered a fresh setback. Timber played 30 Premier League games last year as the Gunners won their first title in 22 years. He also missed most of his first season, having signed from Ajax in 2023, due to an ACL injury. Mikel Arteta has a few injury concerns with the new season just over three weeks away. Centre back William Saliba will be out for an extended period due to a back injury, while Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Noni Madueke look likely to miss the start of the campaign given their recent World Cup commitments. In total, Arsenal had 15 players participating in the World Cup and after a lengthy 63-game campaign last season, the Gunners are not embarking on a big-scale pre-season tour this summer. Arsenal’s first competitive clash is the Community Shield against Manchester City in Cardiff on 16 August before they host newly promoted Coventry City in the first match of the Premier League season on Friday 21 August. Their first pre-season friendly is against Girona on Saturday. They also have matches against Real Betis, Borussia Dortmund and Como on their pre-season schedule.