Rob Holding is yet another gem unearthed by Arsene Wenger

Last year at this time, Rob Holding had just made his debut with second-tier side Bolton Wanderers in the Championship.  The defender played 79 minutes in his first senior league match with his boyhood club, before being substituted off during an eventual 3-0 victory over Middlesbrough.  Despite the successful appearance for the teenager, Holding was left out of the senior squad until December, when he then began a string of 20 consecutive appearances in the starting XI for the club.

Although he spent four months on the sidelines from August to December during 2015, missing 17 league matches, Holding was irreplaceable once securing a regular starting spot.  In fact, the England youth international was even voted as the team’s Player of the Season for the 2015/16 campaign, despite only playing in 57% of the team’s league matches.

Following an impressive freshman season with Bolton, and his team’s relegation to League One, Holding became a bit of a hot commodity when the summer transfer market opened earlier this summer.  While many Premier League clubs easily pay eight figure transfer fees to secure a quality defender these days, Arsenal managed to pry Holding away from Bolton for just £2 million.

Holding’s inclusion into the senior Arsenal team was supposed to be a gradual transition. This all changed after Brazilian center back Gabriel Paulista was injured in the final minutes of the club’s friendly against Manchester City earlier in the month.  With fellow defenders Per Mertesacker (injury) and Laurent Koscielny (rest from Euros) already unable to begin the new Premier League campaign, manager Arsene Wenger had no choice but to deploy Holding alongside Calum Chambers in the opening match of the 2016/17 season.

The first Premier League match of Holding’s career did not particularly go well.  The Gunners were beaten 4-3 by Liverpool in a thrilling match at the Emirates.  Nevertheless, when Koscielny returned the following week, Wenger chose Holding in the starting XI over a more experienced Chambers to pair with the Frenchman against the reigning champions, Leicester City.  Holding impressed during the match, and his partnership with the world-class Koscielny went smoothly, as the Arsenal defense kept a clean sheet against the potent Leicester attack.

Following the 0-0 draw, Wenger praised his new center back, while taking a shot at the media for not rating the youngster. After fielding questions regarding the team’s transfer policy, Wenger stated, “Nobody is speaking about the performance of Rob Holding today.  You should be happy; he is English, he is 20 years old, but I’m sorry he didn’t cost £55 million, so he cannot be good.”

The sarcastic Wenger was right.  Even in a day and age in which clubs are spending a large fortune on players, you can still find quality, young players for a relatively low price.

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Koscielny has also been impressed with his young counterpart.  “I think Rob did well [against Leicester],” claimed the French international.  “He is still young but you can see during the game he was focused on his job and technically he is good with the ball and defensively he is strong.  It was easy for me to play with him on the pitch.  For center backs it is very important to communicate well and we did.”

Holding, partnered with Koscielny, played well once again in Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Watford on Saturday.  While Arsenal have brought in Germany international defender Shkodran Mustafi to give the team more experience at the back, Arsenal fans should be thrilled with the capture of a young, talented defender.  Holding’s emergence as a quality center back has even pushed Chambers (a £16 million signing from a few seasons ago) to a potential loan move to Middlesbrough.

Rob Holding’s first three Premier League matches:

With Mertesacker soon-to-be 32, and currently in the last year of his contract, it looks as if Arsenal have already potentially found a long-term replacement for the German.  In a summer in which 11 out of the 20 Premier League clubs have smashed their transfer records, it is refreshing to see a relatively inexpensive player succeed at such a young age.