All the transfer talk on Arsenal sites seem to be concerning how our defensive line-up will be looking like next season if Ben White arrives from Brighton as expected.
David Luiz has moved on and the young Frenchman William Saliba is currently keeping his fitness up in preparation for joining the Gunners for pre-season. The Gunners have Pablo Mari and Gabriel Magalhaes likely to battle it out for the left-central role of defence, while Calum Chambers, Rob Holding and Saliba will be competition for Ben White for the right-side role.
That is obviously too many defenders for one squad, especially without European Football, and this article in the Times is suggesting that Holding will be the one that is sacrificed to make room for White and Saliba.
But the fact is that last season Holding, along with Luis at times, was easily our most consistent defender and always seemed to be in the team when we kept a clean sheet, so why would Arteta want him to leave?
The Arsenal Insider Chris Wheatley certainly doesn’t think Holding will be sold. In fact he sent this message to the Arsenal faithful…
Wheatley then displays the stats that tell us that Holding was integral to Arsenal’s successful defence….
So let us see who can predict which of our defenders will be in the squad next season, shallwe?
My suggestion is that Calum Chambers will be sold, unless he agrees to be right-back backup yet again. I will controversially suggest that Ben White will actually play as right-back in place of Bellerin, and Holding, Gabriel and Saliba will be fighting our for the central positions, And that leaves Mari out as the final reserve for emergencies.
What do you think?