Friday 22 July 2016 16:51, UK
Rob Holding is not the big name signing Arsenal fans were waiting for, but how good is he? And what will he bring to the Emirates? Nick Wright profiles the 20-year-old with the help of one of his former Bolton team-mates.
There was not much to cheer at the Macron Stadium last season. Bolton Wanderers were crippled by spiralling debts, transfer embargoes and disarray behind the scenes, and supporters watched in dismay as a chaotic campaign ended with relegation from the Championship to League One.
While Bolton lurched from one setback to the next, however, the emergence of a young defender from their academy provided a glimmer of light. Little was expected of the local lad in the number 45 shirt at the start of the campaign, but a year on from making his debut in a Capital One Cup tie against Burton Albion, Rob Holding heads to Arsenal as a rising star.
The speed of Holding's ascent has taken everyone at Bolton by surprise - including himself. "At the start of the season, I was dreaming of playing a couple of senior games," he said after collecting their Player of the Year award in April. "For it to have panned out like it has is just a dream come true."
There is something typically Arsene Wenger about signing a £2m defender from Bolton while Arsenal fans anxiously await a superstar striker, but he is not the only one to have spotted something special in Holding, who made 30 appearances over the course of his breakthrough campaign.
Scouts from up and down the Premier League were drawn to the Macron Stadium to watch him, and at the end of the campaign his impressive form was recognised with a call-up to the England U21 squad for the Toulon Tournament, where he played twice as Gareth Southgate's side lifted the trophy.
His Bolton team-mate Derik Osede understands the fuss. Osede was another of Bolton's better performers last season having arrived from Real Madrid Castilla in the summer, and the Spaniard partnered Holding in the centre of their defence in the second half of the campaign.
"I heard the rumours when they started last season," Osede tells Sky Sports. "I think it's a great step for him. He needs to be at a team who will help him grow as a player, and Arsenal are a team who give young players a lot of opportunities. I'm sure he will take his chance and it will go very well because he's an excellent player and he has a great future."
It's high praise from Osede, but Holding's future didn't look so bright when he was hauled off in a galling Championship debut against Middlesbrough back in August. The inexperienced youngster struggled as part of a back three as Bolton fell to a 3-0 defeat at the Riverside Stadium, with manager Neil Lennon conceding he "quite clearly got it wrong" after the game.
It felt like too much, too soon for Holding. The academy graduate dropped out of the team for the next four months, but when he returned to their starting line-up for a trip to Hull in December, he stayed there. Bolton's chances of survival were looking bleaker by the week, but Holding shone at right-back and centre-back despite the challenging circumstances.
The inexperienced youngster stood up to the physical challenges of Championship football, and he demonstrated impressive technical ability, too.
Holding plays out from the back with coolness and composure, and he is similarly adept at carrying the ball forward himself, muscling past opponents and driving into space in midfield. He reads the game intelligently, with an average of 3.3 interceptions per game only bettered by three players to have made at least 20 Championship appearances last season.
"He's a good team-mate," says Osede. "He's quite tall, he's strong and he has a lot of quality. It's not easy to show that in the centre of defence. Coaches in England like tall, physical players at the back, and tall players don't usually have as much technical quality as shorter ones, but Rob is a complete defender. He can play in any position in defence."
Lennon eventually left Bolton by mutual consent as they slid towards relegation, but before his departure he talked up Holding's growing influence on the side. "Rob Holding has been a superstar for me," he said in February. "Every game he seems to be growing in maturity and improving in performance."
Holding showed consistency and leadership despite his tender age, and while he is a long way from being the finished article, Osede feels his maturity sets him apart. "He sees things clearly and he is very mature for his age, which is really what you want," he says. "It didn't help that everything went badly for the team last season, but Rob has a lot of personality for a young player. I think teams like that."
Arsenal have certainly taken note. The Gunners are light on cover at centre-back and right-back, and Holding already looks well-placed to jump above Calum Chambers, who has been linked with a loan move away from the Emirates after his development stalled last season.
The Gunners have plenty left to do in the transfer market, but for Holding, the move caps a fast-tracked rise to the top. This time last year his only first-team experience was a solitary substitute appearance on loan at Bury. Now, he is brushing shoulders with the elite. For those who witnessed his progress at Bolton last season, it won't have come as much of a surprise.
