Holding tells Arsenal fans what to expect from him!
When Rob Holding signed for Arsenal from Bolton he was named a classic conventional Arsene Wenger style signing given that he was young, cheap and held plenty of promise. Many expected him to be a quiet player ahead of the upcoming season and it seemed likely he’d be heading out on loan. The English youth product however seems to be slowly growing on some people and he’s beginning to make a better name for himself at Arsenal.
Bearing in mind Holding has just signed from League One outfit Bolton, not too much was known about his style of play and what we can expect from the club’s latest signing. Luckily in an interview with Arsenal.com, Holding was keen to tell Arsenal fans that they can be excited to see him out on the pitch.
Holding said: “[In terms of my qualities], from the videos that have gone on the internet, a couple of tricks maybe in the box, which I probably won’t do straight away! Then just bringing the ball out and playing it on the ground to feet is what I think I do best. But I know when to clear it if there’s any danger. I’m not one to take risks.”
Holding is very much a ball playing defender, something that Arsene Wenger seems to love in a centre back. We see both Laurent Koscielny and Calum Chambers content with the ball at their feet, especially the former and now Wenger can also utilise Holding in that style.
Despite receiving a little stick due to the fact Arsenal fans wanted a world class centre back rather than a £2.5 million buy from Bolton, I think Holding seems to be pretty promising. Admittedly I have seen very little from the guy aside from the Internet videos that he mentions in his interview, however he is a regular in the England set up alongside Calum Chambers and seems well trusted by Wenger to go straight into working with the first team.
At 20 years old and with little experience on the top level, it was anticipated that Holding would probably go out on loan this season to gain more competitive experience. However it seems that Holding could get his chance to show us what he’s got earlier than expected.
Per Mertesacker and Gabriel are ruled out with injury and illness respectively and we await to see how much of pre-season they will miss. Koscielny will not return to training with the Gunners until a week before the Liverpool game due to his progress with France to the final of the Euros and so it shows that Arsenal are once again weak at the back when the injuries kick in.
This means that as things currently stand, we only have two fit centre backs in Chambers and Holding going into the start of the season and so we could see these two pairing up on the pitch sooner than we think!
By AH