According to The Telegraph (£), Rob Holding is close to signing a new long-term contract at Arsenal.
The 25-year-old came close to leaving the Emirates on loan in the summer but a late change of heart has paid dividends.
The centre-back has been a mainstay in the centre of Mikel Arteta’s defence this season and the club is keen to tie him down knowing the likes of Shkodran Mustafi, David Luiz and Sokratis are all likely to leave next summer.
Holding was sidelined for the best part of a year with an ACL injury, but he’s impressed the boss with the way he’s returned to fitness and fought for his place.
In September, Arteta said: “Rob is another one who stands for every value that we want at the football club. He had a really difficult time but he trained hard and persuaded us he’s good enough to play for this football club.”
Holding has featured 95 times for the Gunners since Arsene Wenger signed him from Bolton Wanderers in 2016. Along the way, he’s picked up a couple of FA Cup medals and was recently given the honour of captaining the team at Everton.
While he’s under contract until 2023, a new deal would ensure a timely pay rise. It’s understood he currently earns less than back-up keeper Alex Runarsson.
Well deserved, good lad.
Still only 25 – could go on to make a lot of appearances for us.
Solid , uncompromising lad. His longpassing is either underrated or will improve
Nothing spectacular about him but he is so reliable and good in many aspects of the game. New Mertesacker with less hair but equally great attitude. Always plays with heart and determination. Players like him are essential to build a good team.
Well deserved, keep it up Rob!
“New Mertesacker with less hair 😀”
Nothing spectacular about him but he is so reliable and good in many aspects of the game. New Mertesacker (minus hair) but with an equally great attitude. Always plays with heart and determination. Players like him are essential to build a good team.
Well deserved, keep it up Rob!
Great news, seems a bit like Tierney in his humility and work ethic, and he’s been really consistent for us.
Also credit to him if it’s true that he’s currently paid less than Runarsson. In a team full of overpaid players it’s good to see somebody focused on football.
So refreshing isn’t it? In a world where we pay footballers a disgusting amount of money that he’s just got on with the job knowing that if he proves himself he’ll get a slice of that delicious cash pie. Fair play to him.
Yes, pleased at this news.
Solid if unspectacular defender. Reminds me a bit of Uncle Bouldy.
Rob the Boss
Are you robin hood?
Good. I have always rated him and I think we now have a decent CB pairing. Well-deserved!
Good squad player, happy to keep him around. Loved watching Mane bounce off of Rob, and Rob’s just standing there like, “What are you gonna do about it?”
He’s better than just a squad player. Before his injury he was on the cusp of an England cap. He’s one of the best English centre halves. Better than Maguire.
yes well England dont have really that good centre halves tbh
But Rob is man to man a top class personality and footballer.
Holding the back four years
Holding is Simply Red.
Literally. He is a Man U fan after all! 😅
Although id say he definitely should be on more than our primary school back up goalie there is nothing about rob holding that has struck me being anything better than a championship level centre back at best. he is too slow and not at the level required to read the game if you wish to be in the top 4– however he is saved from a lot of stick as we have worse centre backs or ones that make more high profile errors saliba and gabriel has to be the partnership for us purely due to the money we have… Read more »
What about his performances this season haven’t suggested a quality Premier League centre back???
One wonders if we had signed him for £30m from Bordeaux this summer your perception would be different?
the fact that we are in a relegation battle as opposed to our usual top 4-6 position–
not saying it is just down to one player but if we think rob holding would get into anyone of the top 6 defences or even make their bench then we are quite deluded–nowt to do with his price tag more so the lack of ability —bang average player then again we are a bang average team at the moment with a poor excuse for a manager
The relegation battle is not on the defenders. When you consistently score 0 or 1 goal per game, it is hard to win.
Awesome, well deserved!
Holding will be here til he’s bald as Cygan!
that Runarssonn stat is crazy by the way. Not sensible
I’d like to see a link to the source of that stat.
Surely it will be a longer contract than six months!🤣
He’s going bald due to some of his team mates causing him to tear his hair out at some of their ridiculous play!
I say all this as a follically challenged individual so I feel his pain. Don’t have a ‘Rooney’cut and shut job done Rob, go full Bruce Willis!!!
Looking forward to that
That’s a no brainer. He, Saliba, Gabriel, and Chambers are the current and future of Arsenal defence. Get rid of the dead woods. Sign the good ones to new contracts. That’s the way forward for Arsenal
Mari* will be around too.
Yes but injury hasn’t helped chamber and lots of academy defenders on loan with immense potential (mcguinness,Clark, Ballard)
We are definitely selling one of the mentioned defenders and Chambers looks a candidate
A solid professional – what you see is what you get, no airs or graces or bad attitude – just an intelligent, strong team player who gives his all for the shirt.
I said this lad would become a good player. Many were calling for Mustafi to be reinstated ahead of him – and Mustafi duly Mustafied himself out of the side.
Let’s hope Arteta gets this new deal over the line ASAP.
Very pleased to hear this. Good player. Never hear any fuss from him.
I like him a lot. He’s not the most athletic or talented but, like Mari, he makes up for it in heart and grit. An excellent squad option.
4million well spent!
It annoys me if that Runnarson comment is true. How can a keeper not getting on at Dijon and on 6k a week, be on more than
Holding (reportedly 40k).
Surely he would have came for 10k! Now we have a terrible keeper we don’t be able to shift even if he is 2nd choice
yeah that would be pretty troubling
This is actually mental if he’s on anything more than 15/20k
Arsenal’s wage structure is a shambles. I doubt there’s a team in the world that has so many average/bad players on such lucrative contracts
Hey, that’s Arsenal squad management for you – high risk, low reward.
Overpay for players nobody else wants, struggle to hold on to exciting young talent.
Seriously, whoever gave Runnarson that contract should be sued by the club and possibly criminally investigated.
I’m sure Ornstein’s “sources” would call the deal a “good market opportunity,” but to everyone on the outside it’s clear as day that the people who okayed this were – are – fleecing the club.
It’s true. Runnarson is on a reportedly £40,000 a week contract. 😡 Arsenals wage structure is indeed a shambles and we will struggle to shift him on.
This referral thing always sounded a bit fishy to me, now this huge hike makes it even more doubtful.
I believe there should be a wage cap where all footballers in the league get the same basic wage ie £20,000 a week but players get incentives for performances. Extra 5k to be in the starting lineup. Extra 5k that week if the team win. Extra 5k if a player scores or assists a goal, or if a player/a help keep a clean sheet. It seems logical but am sure there would be problems with this model. The whole pay structure in global sport, not just football is obscene. The figures mentioned in world level boxing, formula 1, tennis, basketball,… Read more »
The player is Holding the manager’s Mikki
Evidently not so many cricket fans on here. I enjoyed it!
Shocked he is only 25. Poor lad, now he can afford some hair implants?
I think he’s earned it. I love these kinds of players
Good news.
Ridiculous that he’s paid less than Runnarson, but credit to Holding for just getting on with his job, on the terms which he and his agent deemed acceptable when he signed the contract.
I’m Not sure about this, He’s a good player, but Not The quality We should aspire to IMO.
Good news but the reference to the comparative wages for him and Runarsson shows how skewed our current wage structure is. AW brought in a much more level structure than was usual and it was a mini disaster because we ended up paying very good players relatively little more than very average players – and the latter part of that equation remains with us today (which is one reason why we can’t shift them). He was responsible in part anyway for breaking that structure with the infamous Ozil contract – surely the most damaging in the recent history of the… Read more »
Um, why? Look, I absolutely love Rob Holding, every time we concede, I check to see if it was his fault because I hate to see him do badly. He is the right kind of character, he usually performs at or close to his personal best and he’s a two time FA Cup winner. Whatever our issues have been this season, he’s not one of them. Having said that, he’s fundamentally a limited center back who is certainly Premier League quality, but not top-four quality. I figured he’d be used this season and we’d try to improve on him in… Read more »
I kind of agree with your opinion of him. I’m assuming the deal is to protect our investment.
Depends on how high the new contract is.
We’ve had to sell players for less because they were on too much money.
Holding’s contract would have been perfect if we were going to sell him this summer – although we might be trying to sell in the post-COVID market.
Still, I’m not sure a 27-year-old Holding is going to be worth more than he will be next summer, whatever his contact situation.
He is actually 25 year old at present.
Eggs actly
There are definitely better CBs in the market but considering Arsenal’s position and finances Rob Holding is a very good first choice comparing to alternatives. Considering how the team played in the last few years and his CB partners get a red card every now and then, he has done a phenomenal job to keep working hard and play for the team. Unless Arsenal is competing in UCL spots it hard to argue against his inclusion.
Good player but limited both in terms of his speed and and his ability on the ball (and mistakes that turn over possession). Certainly starts ahead of most of our squad this year and should be replaced by a better option next season. Still worth keeping in the squad both for depth and as a veteran presence that’s been at the club for awhile (eg per mertesackervin his final years). For me he’s someone that has the potential to get into the squad based on fitness and form even with Gabriel, Salina and a potential superstar defender X ahead of… Read more »
Remember the FA cup final beside BFG! Good lad, congrats on the raise.
A solid player. Not great but not bad. A Player we can build upon. I hope it’s no ludicrously high contract. Not everyone deserves above 100k and we should not make it look like it.
Up The Arsenal!
How in the blue fook is Runarsson (the WORST goalkeeper in Arsenal’s history) being paid more than Rob Holding? I’ve long held the opinion that whoever was responsible for signing Iceland’s answer to “Who could possibly be worse than Manuel Almunia?” should be fired immediately, so to learn that he’s on a better contract than Rob Holding is absolutely infuriating.
almunia made over 100 appearances for arsenal and although wasn’t the best still performed well on many occasions-this guy wouldnt get into the womens team
I think it might be too early to declare Runnarson the worst GK we have ever signed.
He’s certainly not the worst to ever play for a Premier League club (Massimo Taibi springs to mind)
Will Runnarson improve? Maybe.
Is he first choice? Nope, never.
Does that mean Leno will become complacent? Probably not.
Would I liked us to have held onto Martinez? Yes, but that’s irrelevant now.
Smart deal whether he stays or not. Rebuilding the defence can only happen after we fix the midfield at this point. With Gabriel, Mari, Mavropanos, Chambers, Saliba, all available even after we lose Mustafi, Sokratis and Luiz in the summer, it makes sense to raise his value by playing him. It will allow Holding to get a better deal and higher calibre club if he wants to move in the summer.
Better deal? Higher calibre club? Wtf are you talking about, seriously?
I forgot about Mavropanos. How is he doing on his loan? D:
Fantastic news. Ornstein was reporting a right sided centre half was high on Edu’s priority list but hopefully this signals a change of heart.
He’s been exceptional and with Chambers back and Saliba to come through (you’d still hope) them we’re looking solid in that position fir years to come.