Last week I suggested Carl Jenkinson could be invited back to Arsenal to at least keep himself fit while he searches for a new club.
Well don’t be shocked if Rob Holding follows in that direction, given that 20 months after leaving North London he hasn’t played in the Prem once?
In fact, since moving to Selhurst Park the defender has featured in one League Cup tie.
At 28 he should be in his peak years getting regular minutes. Which was the whole reason he moved across the Capital.
There were Gooners who felt the center back wasn’t quite up to the required level to be a regular for a club our size, especially once we had realistic ambitions to challenge Man City.
Yet to go from starting in Europe to not getting a second of league action with Crystal Palace is some fall from grace.
At his very best, he played in two winning FA Cup Finals where he was outstanding in both.
We have lifted 14 of those trophies in our history. He will always be able to say he contributed to two of them, no one can take that away from him.
Yet he can’t even make the Eagles bench when they are selecting two keepers and youth players just to make up the numbers.
Mr. Wenger once boasted to the media how Holding only cost him 1 million. Yet before his prime, Holding can’t even get picked as a sub when managers can pick up to 9 options.
As some have observed Oliver Glasner at times hasn’t been able to fill his bench so common sense would say to use Holding even if it’s to have an extra body.
To prefer to be a man short in your Matchday squad indicates he doesn’t trust the player.
While for a while the company line was there were a few injuries, his boss was brutally honest on transfer deadline day explaining that despite being fit, Holding is training away from the first team and will continue to do so with the player ‘knowing the reason’.
He’s spoken about his battle with mental health in the past, especially when his self-confidence was impacted by hair loss. Yet would your employers be supporting you by freezing you out.
Whatever the real issue is it would seem Holding does not agree with his treatment. He’s spent the international break updating his social media pages, essentially unfollowing the club and removing any evidence that he’s connected to them.
This makes it harder to keep the situation private which is Palace’s preference.
If this is related to his behaviour it would be very uncharacteristic and not the Holding, we recognise from the Emirates.
We know how strict Mikel Arteta is if he feels a player is not meeting his principles. Our manager didn’t tolerate the likes of Aubameyang and Ozil’s personalities not aligning with his ethos, so would be the same regarding Holding.
In fact, the Spaniard respected the player so much that last January, after the 4 million deal was confirmed, he phoned Holding to personally thank him for his contribution, his reliability and being one of the more vocal members of our dressing room.
It seems odd that Holding has gone from that to his current predicament.
Wishing Rob Holding all the best and hope he can get back on the pitch soon
Once a Gooner Always a Gooner
Dan
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