Former Manchester United defender Jaap Stam has cast doubt over whether Ajax’s Jurrien Timber is good enough to play at centre-back for the Red Devils.
The 21-year-old has long been linked with reuniting with Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford, and 90min revealed in March that Timber remains a player of interest.
Timber has confessed that he will assess his future in the summer, having chosen to remain in Amsterdam despite having opportunities to leave the Eredivisie and further his career.
Manchester United are keen to strengthen their defensive options this summer and are also willing to let existing players leave – Harry Maguire a potential casualty if Ten Hag is able to shape his squad in the way he wants to.
But former United defender Stam, a treble winner under Sir Alex Ferguson in 1999, isn’t fully convinced by Timber’s ability to play at centre half, even though a move would see Ten Hag reunited with a player he helped develop and break into Ajax’s first team.
“The big advantage of United for Timber is that he already knows Ten Hag and vice versa,” Stam told Dutch outlet AD. “The intentions of the trainer are molded to Timber, but make no mistake: this is the Premier League.
“There you can’t always be dominant, you have to duel much more against strikers like Harry Kane and Erling Haaland.
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“Everyone with Lisandro Martínez was also curious about that. It turns out that he did it. With Timber, I just miss a certain amount of aggression – sometimes even being a little mean – in his game.
‘That is also, for example, in giving the first blow before the real duels come. Martinez does. You can learn that too, but it has to be in you.
Timber has also been linked with United‘s bitter rivals Liverpool, but Stam does think that United is the right fit if he plays at full-back instead of centrally.
“You also have to look at combinations and chance of playing time,” the Dutchman continued. “United can still use a defender, also because Raphael Varane is prone to injury and Harry Maguire is still disappointing.
‘In England I therefore see United as the most logical option. And what I would like to see more often is Timber as a right back. There are at United, Dalot without the ball and Wan-Bissaka on the ball don’t quite convince me yet.”
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