Now 22, Jurrien has been a member of a football team for as long as he can remember – since he was just four years old in fact – and every time he had moved to a new club, his twin Quinten made the move too. Until, that is, his move from Ajax to Arsenal last July.
The two brothers – the youngest of five siblings – have been together in every aspect of their life, every step of the way, up until a few years ago. So Jurrien is perfectly placed to talk about what togetherness is. Indeed he barely knows what it means to be apart.
Born in Utrecht, right in the very centre of the Netherlands, in June 2001, Jurrien and Quinten joined their local club DVSU before they had even started school.
“Yeah, I was four when I joined,” the defender explains, “just a small team, and played there for two years, and got scouted quite quickly, then left when I was six, to join Feyenoord.
“Maybe because I was with my twin, I got noticed quicker, and maybe we were better than the others!” he smiles.
So what was Jurrien like as a young kid? Did he find he had to speak out more to get noticed alongside his twin?
“Well I don’t think we were quiet guys,” he reveals, “but we weren’t the loudest, we weren’t captain or anything like that. But yes in the team, I think we were among the leaders in the group.
"At that age I played with my twin, but also my older brother Dylan, and he was also scouted to go to Feyenoord, when we were six and he was seven.”
The brothers continued their progress in Rotterdam with Feyenoord, with Jurrien settling down into his defensive role when he was about 10 or 11. Then at the age of 12, Feyenoord’s big rivals Ajax came calling – again both junior Timbers moved together.
“Dylan had already left Feyenoord by then,” he recalls, “but I think it made it easier moving to a new club with Quinten, because we were always together.
“At that stage you don’t really realise, when I look back on it now, it was easier. You have someone there alongside you, and it was never that difficult to join somewhere new.”
“I watched basketball a lot, to be honest I like to watch all sports, but I didn’t play them. Last weekend I went to watch a rugby game, it was Saracens. I enjoyed it, and I understand it a bit more now which makes it more enjoyable too. I like to watch darts on the TV as well. I just loving watch sport, and seeing people compete.”
Two years after Quinten left Ajax for Utrecht, Jurrien was on the move too, leaving the Netherlands for the first time to join us, in July 2023. The first move where Quinten was not by his side.
“Now you say that, it’s true,” Jurrien smiles” – it’s the first time I had joined somewhere without Quentin signing at the same time, but I did not realise really, because everything went smoothly.
“Apart from the injury, the move has been really good to be honest. I’ve had some time to integrate to the club and to London while I’ve been injured.
“It’s a different opportunity to get to know London and to feel at home. That was the positive side of it, and I’ve done that and now I do feel at home. I feel comfortable at the club, with the boys and the staff, but also where I live.”
So far Jurrien has only had a few chances to show what he can offer the team since signing. He impressed in pre-season matches during our US summer tour, and in the Emirates Cup against Monaco, before helping us beat Manchester City in the Community Shield at Wembley. But then he suffered a heart-breaking ACL injury in the opening Premier League game of the season, at home to Nottingham Forest on August 12.
He’s been out of action ever since. But last month he travelled with the squad to Dubai to step up his recovery, and there is certainly light at the end of the tunnel now, with Mikel Arteta saying he is hopeful of seeing the summer signing in action again this season.
But Jurrien believes the last few months have not been wasted by any means. He has been able to integrate into life at his new club, taking the extra time afforded by his enforced layoff to settle into his surroundings and get to know his teammates.
“Of course at some points it’s been difficult,” he admits, “because you’re not playing, and that’s the thing you love to do.
“Sometimes you really want to join the team – when you are enjoying the game so much you really want to get down there and be part of it. That’s frustrating, because sometimes it looks so amazing you want to be part of it. But I use that as motivation during my recovery. I see the boys a lot, at the training ground but also at the games, and that’s been good for me too.
“These months will definitely make me stronger,” he adds. “It’s an opportunity for me to do well. So even though I’m not playing, I can take this moment to become stronger mentally, physically, and also to feel at home with this group of boys. It’s an opportunity I’ve taken with both hands. I’ve had some more time to watch the team, see how we play, how I can fit in when I get on the pitch, so looking at the positives, I think there have been many.”
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