Arsenal made decision to scrap ‘very close’ transfer as Arteta prioritised swoop for £38m alternative | OneFootball

Real Valladolid defender Ivan Fresneda.

According to reports, Arsenal decided to sign Jurrien Timber over Real Valladolid defender Ivan Fresneda because they wanted to sign someone “established”.

The Gunners were heavily linked with Fresneda during the January transfer window. This followed the 18-year-old’s breakout season for the La Liga outfit during the 2022/23 campaign.

The right-back made 26 appearances for Real Valladolid last term and he was also monitored by Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund earlier this year.

Arsenal decided to move on from Fresneda ahead of this summer as they instead moved for former Man Utd target Timber.

The Netherlands international was initially expected to sign for Man Utd or Liverpool this summer but Arsenal swooped to sign him ahead of their Premier League rivals.

TEAMtalk’s Arsenal correspondent – Charles Watts – has now revealed that Arsenal opted to move for TImber as he is “established on the world stage”.

“He [Fresneda] was very close to signing in January and they opted not to,” Watts told TEAMtalk. “He and his representatives decided it was probably best to see out the season in Spain. It was put to one side.”

“At one stage I thought it was probably going to happen. And this summer, they’ve just moved on to other targets.

“I think they’ve probably looked at the fact that they are in the Champions League, they need to really compete next season. He is a talented young, teenage full-back; what they need is someone who’s slightly older, like Timber, who’s established himself on the world stage.

“They need to have a squad capable of competing for the Premier League and Champions League.”

Watts thinks Timber impressed against an MLS All Stars team in a friendly this week as he showed “exactly why Arsenal looked to get him”.

“Timber came on was very impressive in his first showing against the All Stars on Wednesday night,” Watts added.

“He gave a real demonstration in about half-an-hour of exactly why Arsenal have looked to get him – in terms of what he’s going to bring, not just to the right-hand side, but the central areas of the pitch as well.

“Timber was just more established and going to improve the squad straight away whereas the Fresneda signing would be a little bit of a project, which Arsenal do sometimes, but this time they’ve opted for the slightly more experienced version.”