Arsenal: Rob Holding The Anchor Of The Future

Arsene Wenger was gushing of Rob Holding on Friday morning. The Arsenal youngster has the potential to be the anchor of the future.

The acquisition and development of young players is a key aspect of Arsene Wenger’s management. Throughout his time at Arsenal, he has always prioritised young players over the more economically generous big-name pursuits in the transfer window that many of his domestic rivals exploit.

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There are numerous examples of players who have benefitted from Wenger’s tutelage. The positional change of Thierry Henry, from a streaky left winger to a prolific centre-forward; the increased understanding and discipline of Kolo Toure at centre-half; the patience showed with injury stricken Robin van Persie. There are also players in the current squad who can point to the influence of Wenger as a key mentor in their development.

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Laurent Koscielny, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott, all key members and contributors to the first team squad, have enjoyed the coaching and the educating that Wenger has provided them with throughout their young careers. The latest player to have reaped the reward of Wenger’s youth policy is Rob Holding, who Wenger himself has been gushing in his praise towards, claiming that he has a ‘great future‘:

"“I believe he has a great future because he’s very intelligent and has a very objective analysis of his own performance. The biggest part in the improvement of a player is to be capable of analysing his performance in a very objective way, [be] a little bit harsh, and I think he has that in him. He’s very bright about what’s happening and he analyses very well and understands very well. He reads the game very well.”"

And that is perhaps the greatest trait that Holding boasts. More than his physical or technical qualities, it is his reading of the game, his ability to anticipate danger and then act as a result, that make him such an accomplished and polished defender. What was especially telling was the speed at which he was able to adjust to the slight change in position when Wenger altered his system.

Holding took to the wider role wonderfully, immediately understanding when he should allow himself to be dragged out wide, and commit himself to the challenge, and when he should hold his ground, staying centrally and slowing the attack.

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All of these qualities, at just 21 years of age, is remarkable, and is the perfect display of the potential that he boasts. Holding has a wonderfully bright future at the heart of Arsenal’s defence and could grow into their rock-solid anchor.