Arsenal: Virgil van Dijk madness highlights Rob Holding glory

Arsenal were in the race to land Virgil van Dijk, but now that it has descended into complete madness, let’s just appreciate Rob Holding.

Arsenal’s defensive depth really came out to shine in the latter parts of the season, as the 3-4-3 showed that there was a surprising amount of talent in the mix.

Even in the most important game of the year, with Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi and Gabriel Paulista all missing, the Gunner’s defense, manned by Per Mertesacker, Rob Holding and Nacho Monreal, did the job against the Premier League champions.

Then there is the matter of a very talented Calum Chambers returning and we have plenty to be excited about. Depending on what Mertesacker decides on his future, that leaves us six or seven viable center backs that have all at one point or another proven themselves first team quality.

And then there is Virgil van Dijk. Last summer, the Gunners were in a tumultuous place with their defense. They had lost both Mertesacker and Gabriel to injury and had to make additions, which they did in Mustafi and Holding. But few expected that after one year, we would be in the clear defensively.

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That is emphasized all the more with van Dijk, and his transfer saga’s descent into madness. The Sun is now reporting that Manchester City, the ever careful spenders that they are, plan to drop ££60m on the man, making him the most expensive defender ever. And this just a year after John “Pebbles” Stones was secured for £55m.

Which would mean that City will have spent over £100m trying to solve their defensive problems, while Arsenal might well have solved it all with just £2m. There is plenty of reason to believe that Holding would have been enough defensive help in his own right to sustain the Gunners. Don’t get me wrong though, I am plenty happy to have Mustafi too.

It adds a bit of impetus to Wenger’s statement about how Holding “can’t be good” because he didn’t cost as much as John Pebbles.

Van Dijk may be a stalwart defender, and maybe my gripe is more so with the modern era of transfer costs rather than with Pep Guardiola and his wanton spending, but it all seems a bit ridiculous, don’t you think?

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Wenger has recently spoken up about how Arsenal is not going to spend bookoo bucks just to spend. He says this all the time. And it can be frustrating, but since Holding worked out so well, he actually does have a leg to stand on.

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