Rob Holding Hopes to Inspire Crystal Palace Teammates Like Former Arsenal Captains
Rob Holding has joined Crystal Palace from Arsenal this summer and is hoping to use the experience he gained from his seven-year spell at the Emirates to inspire his younger teammates. During his time at Arsenal, Holding was captained by two Gunners greats, Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny, and says he learnt a lot from them both.
The 28-year-old defender made 162 appearances for Arsenal across all competitions and won two FA Cups. He is now one of the more experienced players in the Palace squad and hopes to be a leader for his new side.
“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,” Holding told talkSPORT. “Any little things that I’ve 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.”
Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny
Per Mertesacker became Arsenal captain in the summer that Holding signed for The Gunners, taking over from the retiring Mikel Arteta, and the World Cup winner is now the club’s Academy Manager. Koscielny took on the armband in 2018 following the German’s retirement, but would hold the captaincy for just one season before departing the club in controversial circumstances to join Bordeaux, retiring there in 2022.
Holding has only made one appearance for Palace so far, in the 3-0 Carabao Cup defeat at Manchester United, but he could yet make his league debut in red and blue this Saturday at Newcastle.
Crystal Palace’s Average Age
The average age of the Eagles’ starting XIs this season is actually just over 27, which is actually the joint-third oldest in the Premier League, the same as Newcastle and only behind Fulham and West Ham. Nevertheless, several of Roy Hodgson’s key players are on the younger side, including Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi and Michael Olise.
Conclusion
Rob Holding is hoping to use his experience gained from his time at Arsenal to inspire his younger Crystal Palace teammates. He was captained by two Gunners greats, Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny, and says he learnt a lot from them both. Although Palace’s average age is just over 27, several of Roy Hodgson’s key players are on the younger side. Holding has only made one appearance for Palace so far, but he could yet make his league debut in red and blue this Saturday at Newcastle.