Timber is Johan Cruijff Talent of the Month for the second time

The great performance of the young defender helped the Amsterdam club to keep their league lead clear for the whole month. The last goal scored by Erik ten Hag's team dates back to 3 October, but Ajax have managed to have clean sheets in the seven league matches since then (including the 5-0 win against Willem II on Thursday). The last time was in December 1997, when the Amsterdam team also recorded seven clean sheets in a row.

Timber won possession of the ball 31 times (31 ball recoveries) and made four successful tackles. In addition, with 252 successful passes he had the highest pass accuracy in the Eredivisie (90.7%) and the highest number of carries (88; number of times a player covers at least five metres with the ball at his feet). Of all the defenders, he also managed to cover the greatest distance with his carries (923 metres).

Besides the monthly prize, the Dutch international also received two cheques on behalf of the VriendenLoterij. One cheque for €2,500 for his former amateur club, DVSU in Utrecht, where he was active in the youth team with his brother Quinten Timber (FC Utrecht). The second is a cheque for €5,000 to donate to a project of the Johan Cruyff Foundation, which will enable the purchase of sporting equipment for children with physical disabilities.

The Eredivisie Player of the Month and Johan Cruyff Talent of the Month Awards are based on statistics (StatsPerform) and votes from football fans, cast via the KPN Man of the Match vote (ESPN). These elements also count towards the Eredivisie Player of the Year and Johan Cruijff Talent of the Year Awards, which are presented in a live broadcast on ESPN at the end of the season 2021/22.

The Eredivisie Player of the Month vote is an initiative of the Eredivisie CV in collaboration with ESPN. The Johan Cruijff Talent of the Month is an initiative of the Eredivisie CV, ESPN, Johan Cruyff Foundation and VriendenLoterij.