Rumour Mongering: Ajax’s Jurriën Timber “Looking for a House in Liverpool”

Liverpool’s absolute minimum needs this summer would appear to be two starting-calibre midfielders and one centre half, with the later needed in part due to an expected departure for Joël Matip and the continuing struggles by Joe Gomez to rediscover his best form.

There haven’t been nearly as many names linked with the Reds in defence as midfield—and for fans the dream is RB Leipzig and Croatia star Joško Gvardiol—but whichever signing is made there will be no less important to their rebuild than the ones made for the midfield.

This week, though, a surprise potential target has emerged from the Netherlands, with Voetbal Primeur claiming that Ajax 21-year-old defender Jurriën Timber has deputized his girlfriend to go house-hunting in Liverpool this week ahead of a potential summer switch.

Relegation-threatened Everton, of course, could also be a potential destination if Timber is planning on a Merseyside move, but the payer has mostly been linked with Manchester United to date which would make his joining the 17th-place Blues something of a surprise.

Timber is something of a hybrid, not quite a centre half and not quite a right back, with a similar profile to Liverpool’s Joe Gomez before his injury setbacks. In a system that asks Trent Alexander-Arnold to invert into midfield, that’s a profile that could well make sense.

Reason for pause, though, comes from the player’s height—he’s 1.79m or 5’10”—as Liverpool typically target centre halves who are both mobile and physically imposing, and it’s difficult to see Timber being targeted by or choosing the Reds as an Alexander-Arnold backup.