There aren't too many situations in football where you're considered old at the age of 26. This Arsenal squad is no ordinary football team though.
After inheriting a group packed with players approaching the twilight of their careers, Mikel Arteta has quickly transformed his squad into the youngest in the Premier League. With a clearly defined recruitment policy last summer aimed at signing players aged 23-and-under, it is clear that the Gunners are building a team for years to come.
While the exuberance and fearlessness of youth is integral to Arteta's project, the rare beacons of experience in the Arsenal squad are ones that he values greatly. Rob Holding is one of the prime examples of this, and despite perhaps being viewed by many as older than he actually is, the centre back is more than happy to surprise people.
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"I always think later on in my career when I'm like 29, people will think, “Wow - he’s been around for a while!” — and that will feel like a good thing," he says at an event to launch Arsenal's new away kit. "Towards the end of my career people will realise, 'Oh, my God, he's still quite young,' and they’ll appreciate how long I’ve been around.
"We are quite a young team. We have a couple of senior roles: me, Granit [Xhaka], Mo [Elneny], Thomas Partey, Cedric. We’ve all got a bit of age and a bit of experience, but we’ve also got the young enthusiasm and energy, which I think is a really good balance right now."
For Holding the concepts of seniority and leadership go hand in hand in a way that is not always the case with senior pros. He has captained the side on several occasions and excels at the more traditional aspects of the role such as organising his teammates on the pitch.
Away from the limelight though he has also played a key role in ensuring his fellow squad members are at their best. Holding has been offering new signing Matt Turner lifts into training while the American international sorts himself a new car following his whirlwind move to North London that saw him become a father within a week of his arrival. It may seem like an innocuous gesture but Turner has cited his new teammate as a reason for why he has settled so quickly. For Holding it's a part of his personality that has always come naturally.
"It’s followed me around from when I was at Bolton, really," he says. "Through the age groups, I was always a captain of the team. It’s been a blessing, and sometimes been a curse — you’re sort of expected to be the one that steps up, even though you’ve not been chosen to be the one. It means setting the standards, doing things right, don’t be doing anything stupid. It’s just simple stuff. People that mess up and are late — it’s just simple things that people in everyday life do daily. But it becomes such a big deal.
"It should just be a given: that’s how I was brought up by my dad, he was a stickler for rules and stuff like that rubbed off on me. But yeah, it’s followed me around and I always end up being one of the guys to help people learn and develop. You want a guy that’s going to help people and bring them forward, rather than hold them back."
This increased senior role meant that in times of high pressure last season, Holding was the man that Arteta turned to. The Gunners inefficiency up top meant there were many games where they had to hold on to tight one-goal leads and in these situations the 26-year-old became something of a running joke on social media for his reliability as Arsenal looked to lock down victories in 5-3-2 set up. As he reflects on the key role he played in getting Arsenal so close to Champions League qualification Holding is happy with what he did, but far from content with playing this kind of bit-part role.
"I don’t want to look back on my career and think, 'Oh, yeah, I played really great in the last 10 minutes of games,'" he says. "Personally, I don't want to be known as the 5-3-2 defender that comes on and sees out games, as funny and as amusing as it is. I want to look back at my career and think, 'I’ve played a hell of a lot of games'. And if that’s for Arsenal, then great.
"But whatever happens, I’m not going to just give up and be like, 'Because I'm not starting, I'm not interested in coming on and helping the team'. If I'm getting on the pitch, then I'm going to be there and do my best for the team and help them get to where we want to be."
Despite his best efforts Arsenal did ultimately miss out on the top four by just two points to local rivals Tottenham. For many, a key moment in the race for Champions League qualification was the North London Derby three games before the end of the season in which Holding was sent off as Arsenal lost 3-0. As he reflects on that night the 26-year-old admits he could have handled things differently, but doesn't want it to define what was a season of fine margins.
"I remember the next day we were off and I was taking the dog for a walk, and I was just walking — I was just thinking over and over again in my head, ‘What could I have done different? Could I have maybe had a different body shape, or not been quite as tight?'" he says. "I didn’t want him [Son] to have a free run so I wanted to make it a bit of a physical battle. It is what it is, you can’t dwell on it too much. You’ve got to move on — games come thick and fast.
"I obviously missed the Newcastle game and then was back for Everton in the last game of the season, when there was still a chance [of top four] if the Tottenham result went our way. So we had to make sure we finished strong, which we did.
"But yeah, It didn’t come down to just the Tottenham game. I think there were three games — Palace, Southampton and Brighton — where we dropped points when we should really have finished it off there. People can say it comes down to that Tottenham game, but they can say what they want. If things go a different way during the season it’s not even an important game, you know?"
For many a key reason why Arsenal ran out of gas towards those final few games of the season was the lack of depth they had in their squad. Mikel Arteta and Edu took a considered approach in January to concentrate on a smaller group of players as the Gunners focused all their efforts on to one competition and eventually it took its toll. Going into that North London Derby, Holding had been struggling with a knee problem, while Ben White missed the game altogether with a hamstring problem and Gabriel went off late in the match with a similar issue of his own.
This time around things seem as though they are going to be different. William Saliba and Pablo Mari have returned from successful loan spells at Marseille and Udinese, meaning the competition for minutes is going to be fierce. Far from fearing this though, Holding is looking forward to this latest test in his Arsenal career.
"Last season there were only three really [centre backs]," he says. "By the end there was only me, Gabi and Ben, and we were getting thin on the ground. And Ben was carrying some knocks, I had a bit of a knock on the knee and was getting through games from the Chelsea away game. So we were fighting just to get through those last couple of games. But we’ve got some bodies in with Saliba back, and then Pablo is back, so it gives us a bit more depth if we do have a couple of injuries again.
"I’ve been here seven years now, and they've made signings at centre-half since I've been there. It comes down to me backing myself, and proving to the manager that I'm good enough to play — and that’s spoken for itself over the last six years. I've seen a few centre-halves that have come in and have now gone and I'm still here, so I must be doing something right. It’s another challenge, and we go from there."
Centre half is not the only area of the squad where Arsenal have increased their depth in the squad. Gabriel Jesus, Fabio Vieira and Marquinhos have all come in to bolster the attacking ranks, while football.london understands that Oleksandr Zinchenko will soon arrive from Manchester City to bring versatility to the midfield and defence.
With this in mind it seems as though the Gunners are well placed to compete on multiple fronts as they return to European competition and vie for the top four. As he looks ahead to the coming campaign Holding is clear that success in both these competitions is the club's aim.
"We want Champions League qualification," he says. "We’ve got two opportunities: you’ve got the top four, and the Europa League. My preference would be to have both."
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