Jurrien Timber has taken another step forward in his recovery from an ACL injury, starting to work with the ball again in Dubai.

The Arsenal first-team squad are currently away in Dubai for a warm-weather training camp, and injured summer signing Jurrien Timber has joined them on the trip.

Arsenal shared videos on Thursday to show Timber back on the training pitches, working with the ball again for the first time since his injury.

This is a big step for the defender, and a significant milestone, but it doesn’t mean he’ll be back playing again for a while yet.

Arsenal highlight 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.

Anyone expecting Timber to turn up on the bench next weekend will be sorely disappointed, as Mikel Arteta recently made clear.

“Unfortunately, that’s a very long-term injury,” Arteta said last Friday.

“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.”

As significant as this week’s milestone is, it’s not an indicator of full fitness.

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, whilst Rob Holding was back with the ball at his feet before the end of June, and he didn’t play for the u21s until August 12th.

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