“Striving to Follow in the Footsteps of Former Arsenal Teammates,” Says Rob Holding

Former Arsenal defender Rob Holding, who recently joined Crystal Palace, has expressed his desire to emulate the leadership qualities of his former teammates, Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny, at his new club.

Holding, now 28, left Arsenal for Selhurst Park on transfer deadline day, marking the end of his seven-year association with the North London club. During his time at Arsenal, he had the opportunity to captain the team on a few occasions and played alongside renowned figures and notable club captains like Granit Xhaka, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Martin Odegaard.

In an interview with talkSPORT, Holding acknowledged his wealth of experience and the relatively young team at Crystal Palace. He spoke of his intent to share the valuable lessons he learned from veterans like Mertesacker and Koscielny during his early days at Arsenal, emphasizing their exceptional leadership qualities.

Holding stated, “I’ve got a lot of experience, 28 years old now, and they’ve got quite a young team at Palace, they’ve got some young lads coming through. Any little things that I have picked up from my time at Arsenal when I first stepped into the changing room and you had the likes of Mertesacker and Koscielny, they are just leaders. If I can take any bits that I got from them and pass them onto the lads that are a bit younger at Palace now, then I can do that.”