It may seem a little bit odd to say this after Rob Holding was an unused substitute for most of his debut season as an Arsenal player, especially after this summer of international competition when his club and country colleague Calum Chambers was selected ahead of him for the England under 21 team every time, but I believe that the young defender is going to be a regular first team starter for us next season.
Arsene Wenger may be aware that there is a lot of pressure from us fans to spend big money on transfers and at the same time he will take flak if one of his big signings from last summer, Shkodran Mustafi, is sat on the bench. But Wenger has never been scared of picking youth over reputation.
In fact he has a well deserved reputation for developing young players and after Holding did so well as part of the new back three system towards the end of our last campaign I think us Gooners will be happy to see the boss give him more opportunity.
And I feel that Holding really does have what it takes to be a top class player. Having played at right back as well as in the centre makes him ideal for that right side of a back three but he also has good pace and technical ability. The same can be said of Chambers, of course, but what makes Holding stand out, for me, is the aggression and attitude he showed, most notably against the Chelsea thug Diego Costa in the FA cup final.
What do you guys think of Holding and his place in the Arsenal side?
Bob.