Arsenal: The reckoning awaits for Rob Holding in 2019

Arsenal have a surplus of young central defenders, but getting them to take that final step into first team relevance isn’t easy. 2019 has to be the year of Rob Holding.

Arsenal were blessed with the emergence of Calum Chambers in 2017/18. In the midst of a despair-ridden defensive season, they found a gem in Chambers, as he proved that his year on loan at Middlesbrough had prepared him for life at Arsenal, where he was constantly under siege, and learned the composure that we see today.

He took that final step into first team relevance, and has proven that he is ready for a starting role. Which, at the age of 23, is perfect timing. And given where the Gunners currently find themselves in terms of defensive options, the timing really couldn’t be any better.

But there’s more to come. And that more has to come in the form of Rob Holding. The 22-year-old Englishman hit the ground running when he arrived from Bolton for a modest £2m and, by the time he was pocketing Diego Costa in the FA Cup Final victory, it seemed inevitable, we’d turned up a star.

Last year cast a shadow of doubt over that. Holding was less than reliable, he was incapable of the composure that his friend and countryman Calum Chambers was showing and he quickly fell behind in the developmental department as Chambers got ahead.

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That trend continued with the arrival of Konstantinos Mavropanos, who may now also find himself the preferred first-team candidate over Rob Holding.

It’s just the typical sophomore slump, though. This kind of things happens all the time with young players, especially defenders. They burst in with a bang, then other teams get a read on their less-than-positive habits and key in on them. The professional game is cutthroat. Plenty of people can break into first teams, but staying there means adjusting, learning and improving, which not everyone has the capacity to do.

Holding improved towards the end of the season, and a nice preseason tour with the club could work wonders to get him back where he needs to be. If not, a loan is always an option, and as we saw with Chambers, it could work the same magic. Get him on a lower-tier Premier League club, let him deal with a real pressure-cooker situation, and watch him sink or swim.

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Whatever the case, it’s all in the name of progress. Holding was a low-risk, high-reward investment. So worst case scenario? We wasted £2m. Big whoop. The pressure is off. And that gives him an edge on someone like Chambers who carries the expectations of a £16m fee.