Arsenal's English defender Rob Holding leaves Arsenal's Colney training centre north of London on May 20, 2020 as training continues for Premier League clubs with a June re-start the intention during the COVID-19 pandemic. - Teams have started socially-distanced training in small groups this week, but several Premier League stars have expressed concerns about plans to resume the season. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP) (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)
According to Chronicle Live, it was believed that Rob Holding would be making the move to Newcastle in the summer. However, Holding ended up staying back at Arsenal.
The 24-year-old English defender started his youth career at Bolton Wanderers in 2003 and progressed through the ranks to get promoted to the first-team.
In 2014, he was sent on loan to Bury for a season but made just the one appearance for them. After returning, he managed to slot into Bolton’s defence and appeared 30 times for them in 2015-16.
He joined Arsenal in 2016 but hasn’t featured for them on a regular basis. In four seasons, he has played a total of 86 games for the club and featured 10 times for the Arsenal U-23 side. He can point to the fact that his ACL injury in 2018 kept him out for a good six months (source – Transfermarkt).
The defender is yet to feature for England but has made 5 appearances for the U-21 side.
Over the summer, Newcastle failed to add to their defensive contingent and familiar problems have resurfaced. The club sits in 13th place with just 3 wins from 8 games. They have a negative goal difference and have conceded 13 goals.
It is clear that they need better centre-backs than Paul Dummett, Ciaran Clarke and so on. Only Jamaal Lascelles and Fabian Schar can claim to be sure starters, which leaves the club searching for another defender.
Rob Holding could be a very feasible deal that Newcastle should try. Arsenal already have a glut of players in that position and losing someone like Holding shouldn’t be much of a concern. The club were prepared to sanction a deal earlier and Newcastle can revisit the whole situation.
He is a player with loads of Premier League experience, which would no doubt help the Magpies. It would even help Arsenal as they would be getting a player off their books. Overall, this is a deal that can benefit Newcastle highly and the club should go for him in January or the next transfer window.