Rob Holding - Defender | First-Team

From north to south London

Rob Holding made the switch from north London to south London on transfer deadline day in August 2023, leaving Arsenal after seven years.

Despite being born and raised in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, it was Bolton Wanderers who first identified Holding’s potential, snapping him up from his local youth side at the age of seven.

Rising through Bolton’s academy ranks, Holding’s first taste of senior football came on loan at Bury as a 19-year-old, making a solitary League Two appearance for the Shakers in April 2015 before returning to his parent club and signing his first professional contract.

Training regularly at Bolton against former Premier League forwards including Eidur Gudjohnsen and Shola Ameobi, Holding caught the eye of manager Neil Lennon, and the following season stepped up as a fully-fledged first-team player.

Holding excelled; the defender made 30 appearances in all competitions, scoring in his tenth appearance – a 3-1 win over MK Dons in January 2016.

And despite his side’s relegation from the Championship, he was voted Bolton’s Player of the Year in his first full season as a senior professional, leading to his maiden England Under-21s call-up for the Toulon Tournament in May 2016.

Debuting for Gareth Southgate’s side against Guinea, Holding would make two appearances as England won the tournament – a winning feeling he would soon come to recognise.

Overtures from Arsène Wenger and Arsenal soon arrived – and a transfer from his northern home to north London beckoned.

It’s understandably rare to see a 20-year-old thrust into the spotlight for a Premier League debut.

But such was the early impression Holding made at Arsenal that Wenger had little hesitation playing him against Liverpool on the opening day of the 2016/17 season following injuries elsewhere.

Although the match ended in defeat at the Emirates Stadium, Holding would enjoy his first Premier League clean sheet of many to come the following week, shutting out Leicester City in a 0-0 draw at the King Power Stadium.

He was subsequently singled out for praise by his manager, who famously said after the game: “Unfortunately no one speaks about the performance of Rob Holding. You should be happy: he is English and 20-years-old. I am sorry, he didn’t cost £55 million so he can’t be good."

While continuing to develop under experienced centre-backs Per Mertesacker and Gabriel Paulista, Holding played eight of Arsenal’s nine cup fixtures in 2016/17 – impressing enough to earn a spot as a first-team regular in the final two months of the season.

The defender played all 120 minutes of a 2-1 FA Cup semi-final win over Manchester City at Wembley, and then the entire 90 minutes of victory by the same scoreline in the final versus Chelsea – the first silverware of his career.

He would return three months later to defeat the same opposition at the same ground in the 2017 Community Shield – one of three victories in the competition.

Holding would further establish himself in Arsenal’s team the following season, 2017/18, making his European debut in a 4-2 win over BATE Borisov in the UEFA Europa League.

And after an unfortunate ACL injury the following season led to a lengthy absence from the side, he returned to start and score in a 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest in the EFL Cup.

After his brave battle against injury, Holding concluded the 2019/20 season by hoisting aloft his second FA Cup, once again playing five of the six games – including a semi-final win over City and a final victory over Chelsea – on the way to lifting the trophy.

The latter part of his Arsenal career has seen game time limited, but he did make 24 appearances in all competitions last season as the Gunners took the Premier League title race to the wire.

He departs north London with 162 games – and five goals – under his belt, having captained the Gunners on 14 occasions, a testament to the character and leadership the 27-year-old will look to bring to SE25.