Arsenal: It’s time to either reset or resell Rob Holding

Rob Holding’s Arsenal career has stalled, and it’s time to make a decision about what happens next. Either invest the time or pocket the money.

There are times in a player’s career when rocking out at the U23s and trying to regain confidence are perfectly fine. But for Rob Holding, already 24-years-old and closing out his fourth year at Arsenal, that time is not now.

While Holding is coming off a lengthy injury that saw his most consistent and positive stint at the club cut short, his return from that injury has been nothing if not a complete non-factor. Nothing has happened. He’s had a few appearances, all of which have been thoroughly unconvincing, and in the wake of those disappointments, he’s fallen into the U23s and isn’t even making appearances off the bench.

Holding was supposed to be the guy we built this defense around. It’s a shame that injuries got in the way, but one way or another, something has to happen, and as I see it, Mikel Arteta has two choices as the summer nears.

They can either push the reset, or they can resell.

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I’m the sentimental type, so I want to see them push the reset first. But that means actually sticking him in there. Not just in the FA Cup, but in Premier League too. He’s passed the prospect stages and we need to understand what he can do for the club. Otherwise we’re just wasting everyone’s time.

Holding has proven what he’s capable of, he just needs the chance to steady himself and get back into better form. That doesn’t happen in the U23s or while watching other people play in front of him. And I get that favors can’t be handed out willy-nilly, but Holding has to have earned something throughout his time at the club. So cash in on that.

Speaking of cashing in, the other option is to sell him ASAP. At 24-years-old, he still has plenty of time to grow into that potential that’s still attached to him. But again, if you wait, that value goes down and down and down. So if we aren’t going to give him the chance to make it, we have to sell him off while simultaneously giving him the chance to make it somewhere else.

One or the other has to happen, because right now neither is happening, and like I said, that’s helping no one.