Rob Holding says he’s very happy to have signed a contract extension with Arsenal and is hoping he can now go on to secure a regular first-team spot.
It was confirmed yesterday that the 22-year-old, who has 42 appearances to his name since signing from Bolton in 2016, had agreed to new terms at the Emirates.
“I’m happy to sign for an extra two years,” he told Arsenal.com.
“It gives me a bit of time to get more experience and build a place in the team.
“Why would you want to go somewhere else? You’re at Arsenal, you want to make it there. Other clubs, you’re not interested in. You want to make it at Arsenal.”
Looking around the changing room, Holding believes that Arsenal’s young squad has the potential to do big things in the future, albeit with a new manager at the helm.
“I was talking to Calum [Chambers] the other day and we were going through the ages of the players and it’s quite a young team.
“Some are 24, some 26-year-olds…the oldest is obviously Petr Cech, but we are quite a young team and we’ll be coming into our best years in the next two or three years, it’ll be ideal.
“You’ve seen with Joe Willock, Reiss Nelson and Eddie [Nketiah] that there is talent in the younger teams as well.”
Holding also underlined how he’s benefitted from working alongside Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi and Per Mertesacker on a daily basis since making the move from Bolton. He admits that while he’s sad to see the latter retire, it does open up an opportunity for him to get more football.
“I’ve matured from a young boy to a man by doing the right things off the pitch to help me on the pitch,” he continued.
“Just the experience of being around veteran players and full international players, that rubs off on you. You mirror what they do.
“I’ve worked with Per [Mertesacker] for two years and he’s been massive for me.
“I’ll be sad to see him go, he’ll be missed in the changing room. But I’ve got to see it as an opportunity, that’s the only way I can look at it. I’ve got to crack on and secure a place in the first team.”
Theres a real maturity about rob and Callum, I have high hopes that the two of them will go far
Thanx for the cliche statement ?
Check the ones about wilshere,we arsenal fans w=are a real bunch of softies 🙁
Thanks for the positivity Lord Bendtner. Bore off.
And your statement is not clichéd? ?
The next choice of manager is so important. We can’t get a cheque book manager as these guys will not be trusted. We need a younger Wenger, someone to develop, to encourage Mavropanos, Chambers and Holding – so that we can retire Kos and Mustafi. AMN, Nelson, Willock and Nketiah can all force there way into the first team – but only with the right manager and the right support from fans. I’d love a manager who targeted buying two fullbacks, a DM and a keeper to challenge the squad rather than go straight into the team and started the… Read more »
I’d like to see the club give Martinez a chance to claim the #1 spot, rather than spend 30-40 million on a new one (funds better used elsewhere, as Macey is a good prospect, too). Goalkeepers need that chance to prove themselves in the line of fire.
Agree with all but the team selection. More mature keeper needed to start from next season, as well as a winger, DM and right back. If Campbell came back and would be willing, I would try him at LWB/LW.
Martinez can’t even get a game on loan, I’d rather we got a proven top class keeper we’ve seen enough times how much of an asset they can be mostly against us recently…
Until these young players show return on promise, we need proven quality to come in if we want to bridge the gap to the top, particularly with the usual injuries we tend to carry through a season. 1) YOUTH – Nketiah, Willock one of Mavropanos or HOlding are best on loan to develop. They won’t learn much polishing the bench on the periphery but they are not mature enough to be relied upon. See Nelson who was in Valencia’s pocket all game. AMN should continue cameos in midfield but frankly he is ready made for the Rback slot and to… Read more »
Martinez is good, young goalkeepers need a lot of luck to break through because they can’t be subbed for twenty minutes like outfield players. We are getting rid of Peyton at last it seems, I think all our keepers will be better with a new coach. Martinez was very good when called upon, hopefully he can impress the new manager in pre-season, as I really believe he’s good enough to be our reserve keeper next season. At least he deserves a chance to prove himself.
When you look at the defenders we have on the books, all of them on their day are capable of having an excellent game. I’d love to see what a change of coaching staff can do for Chambers, Holding and Mustafi. We have to plan for a post-Koscielny future, and these three certainly should be a part of that.
Defintely we are at the end of Koscielny’s tenure.
He has done very well for us but it will be a massive ask for him to do it competitively through another season.
And our new, younger BFG
Not Mustafi. He’s a grenade.
Gaping holes in our defence but he still wants to crack on.
Can’t wait for his big opening.
There are extremely capable defenders in our team that are let down by a system that exposes them.
They aren’t coached properly. If they were, we’d see a big improvement.
This is the issue. It isn’t just the defenders, the midfield does not close players down quickly enough or help track runners into the box. Point in case the equaliser for United. That ball should not have been allowed to come in uncontested. Monreal tried to close it down but we had players too far away frankly. We had been served warnings before from similar angle into Fellaini so this ploy by Mourinho was very obvious but not dealt with by bench or players on field. Without the extra height committed to track the Belgian, it was 50-50 that one… Read more »
I to am looking forward to a new coaching set up. It will be fascinating to see if some of our players our as poor as we have seen recently or if they show signs of improvement under the new coach.
Depends on the manager. I feel the current regime may plum for an Allegri or Enrique. frankly both these managers young as maybe have only proven themselves with the gifts of an expensively assembled squad with super stars built in that are way above much of the rest of the competition in their respective leagues. Could they be successful in England? Maybe. But it is a bit of a risk and there is a feeling they are as much sought after for their controllability as far as Mslintat and Sanhelli are concern as they are for price tag. Far better… Read more »
quality player, I like him
As mentioned, I think both Mavropanos and Holding are more potential than ready product at this point. It would be foolish to rely on them. OTOH Koscielny is getting leggy with age and will either need to take a more retiring role (ala Per) or if the offer is right, he can be sold on. In which case it would be wise to have someone more ready made come in to partner Mustafi. Someone like Koulabaly or De Vrij (out of contract), if price is acceptable. Then have Mustafi, new player and Chambers fight for spot with one of Mavropanos… Read more »
One good thing with both Mavropanos and Holding is they have decent size.
BOTH are also seemingly unflappable. We don’t want to ruin this quality with a hit to their confidence so they have to be managed properly.
We saw how just about everyone was waxing lyrical about Holding then we saw a dip to his game and his limitations/inexperience come in.
Its too early to do the same with Mavropanos over one match against a United side in second gear frankly.
Good extension. I rate young Holding more than Chambers. If we get offers similar to Palace’s last summer for Chambers, I would sell this summer as the Greek boy should be in regular squad next season. 1 of Kos or Mustafi needs to go as well this summer and be replaced by a big money proven CB.
“The oldest is *obviously* Petr Cech”
Ohh, shots fired. ?