Jurrien Timber still has a long road to a full recovery despite his recent return to light ball work, according to a report.

Arsenal defender Jurrien Timber recently returned to the pitch for light ball work in a Dubai training session, sparking hopes that he could soon be set to return to action with the Gunners.

But Chris Wheatley, who correctly reported in October that Timber could be back in light training in January, claims the summer signing still has a long road to full fitness.

“The signs are positive, he’s now back doing light ball work in Dubai,” Wheatley said.

“There’s still a long road to recovery, he still needs to get back to full fitness, but it’s a big step that he’s now doing light ball work.

“Arsenal don’t want to rush him, they don’t want the fans to think that he’s going to be rushed back.”

In their post on his return to training, Arsenal highlighted that Timber was only training individually, away from the rest of the first team.

The club will take things step by step, slowly reintroducing Timber into full training, then eventually reintegrating him into the matchday squad.

“That’s a very long-term injury,” Arteta said earlier this month.

“He is doing really well but he is still far from being fit to train with the team, or something to compete with the team so we don’t expect him back anytime soon.”

Vivianne Miedema of the Arsenal Women also recently recovered from an ACL injury, returning to training in September, but not playing a match for another 41 days.

Beth Mead rejoined training in August, and she took 47 days to play in a match again.

Calum Chambers took 49 days to go from ball work to his first match back, which was an u21 game.

Hector Bellerin took approximately two months to go from kicking a ball to playing for the u21s. Rob Holding was back with the ball at his feet before the end of June and didn’t play for the u21s until August 12th.

We’re probably still looking at another month before Timber’s full comeback, minimum.