Arsene Wenger has revealed that he has no intention of loaning out Rob Holding at the moment instead preferring the 21-year-old to use this season to garner experience of life at a big club.
The defender, signed from Bolton for a fee in the region of £2.5 million, has impressed in the seven starts he’s made for the Gunners so far and could feature in the FA Cup when Arsenal play Preston North End on Saturday.
Although he’s behind Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi and Gabriel in the defensive pecking order and will soon have captain Per Mertesacker to compete with as well, the boss remains clear in his intention to keep the 21-year-old in and around the first team.
“I rate him highly,” Wenger told Arsenal Player. “I think he’s learning his job at the moment at the top level and overall I think he has done extremely well. I believe that he has a bright future at this club.
“People say often, ‘Is he to go out on loan or not?’ I think it’s too early for him to go out on loan. I think it’s very interesting for him to see how people behave, how Premier League top teams work.
“He has improved the speed of his game and the speed of his understanding of the game. As well his aggression level has gone up and he knows that you cannot lose a decisive fight at that level.
“He develops as well by being in touch with players like Koscielny, like Mustafi, like Gabriel, Mertesacker – all experienced centre backs. They teach him as well.”
Come the summer the boss may look differently on Holding’s situation. If Per Mertesacker is offered a one-year extension and Calum Chambers, who appears to be doing well at Middlesbrough, returns to the Arsenal fold then it may well be necessary to send him out for first team experience.
As things stand he looks like a very promising and calm-headed prospect.
I’ve been really impressed with him. Just hope he gets enough games to really develop. It’s the downside to having a bigger, more competitive squad, you don’t get the same opportunities for younger players.
Haven’t been this excited about a young center back since Senderos, albeit he came with a lot of hyperbole.
If he can help us break the Champions league clean sheet record then I’m all in! In all seriousness, he looks class. Very calm and does not look at all like a youngster in his first Premier League season. Hope he makes it work.
Why let him go when he’s doing so well when given the opportunity. I think we should be careful not to send him to the wrong club and risk derailing his development. Some of the youth players we lost still bothers me. Especially Tom Cruise
Yeah, and Richard Gere!
Amoung holding and chambers I like holding more. Both are talented and are clearly are destined to have a fine future.
But chambers have a tendency to make mistakes at times . although I’ll admit he is young and frankly whenever he made a mistake he has shown huge character to bounce back from his mistake like in a match against Liverpool . however holding has always showed a level of composure that I’ve never seen in holding. He is always in control of his game
Remember that Chambers has appeared 36 times for Arsenal and Holding has 7 times. It’s hard to compare how much either are prone to mistakes with each other based on that.
I do agree that Rob feels slightly calmer on the pitch and am really looking forward to seeing how both of them develop. Attackers may get a lot of the attention, but watching great defenders like Kos is one of the great joys of football. Hopefully they follow in those footsteps 😉
I actually rate him higher than Gabriel.
Gabriel will only improve with time. There is much to like about him.
Having seen the likes of Gallas, Squillachi, Silvestre take up places… I absolutely love our strength in centre backs. Imperious Kos, Leader Mert, Brave Mustafi and Combative Gabriel. Others clubs are still in the market while we have two young guns waiting to step up.
You may not like Gallas but he was a good defender.
Seems like a level headed and calm guy as blogs suggest. Never seen him complain and always does the job when called upon. He looks very promising indeed and hopefully fulfills it by being mature and professional in his approach. #COYG
He doesn’t need to be loaned out imo but what do I know?
He’s looked quite professional in his appearances for us so far, but there are a few players ahead of him. At this point, it may be less of a loan for development and more just for playing time so he doesn’t lose the good progress he’s made so far.
Holding is a top prospect for certain. Next year he may go on loan, and depending on chambers’ development at boro (as well as if they stay up), we could see young rob end up there to learn from their manager as well.
Really depends on how much game time he will get next season, will Wenger even be manager? He appears very calm and is being eased in, Chambers was thrown in more at the deep end due to his Southampton experience, I think his spell at RB killed his confidence and set him back personally.
Would like to see Chambers play a lot of the cup games against better opposition with one of the experienced CB’s to see how much he has come on this season
Sorry I meant Holding, not Chambers, agghh!
All I know is I loaned him out on FM but he never made the grade. Maybe should’ve kept him and used ‘tutoring’ instead.
Jokes aside, I’m quite happy with his performances.. he could’ve done a lot worse in the limited time he’s played. He’s got the tools to develop into a really good CB but it’s not gonna happen overnight.
I can see the upside in both staying and going on loan but with Per’s return maybe the latter? Unless Jenks goes instead and he’s cover for RB too..?
Why would Arsenal extend Per given what theyve already got at CB? Not sure the move would make much sense.
He’s a leader. I’d love for him to transition to the staff eventually. So many complained when Arteta moved to City. Plus, Per’s got the moves!
How many times did they fail to perform with our dear captain and leader in the team?
3 years from now hopefully I can see holding and chambers been arsenals cb pairing its been a long time since we had 2 English men at cb
So, we are Holding on to our CB then?
I am getting my coat…
Legend! As long as he keeps the right attitude.
Well as people have said its about being loaned to the right club, I’ve heard Chambers is doing well at Middlesbrough so send Holding their way next season.