Arsenal tipped to have opened contract talks with Rob Holding over a long-term deal

New deal for Holding

The summer of 2021 will see Arsenal face an intriguing period for the club. Arsenal may well be losing a significant amount of defenders including David Luiz, Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi. All three are in the final year of their contracts, which could leave Arsenal with a lightened roster of central defenders at the club come July.

Arsenal have seen players join in the area such as Gabriel, who arrived from Lille, and William Saliba who joined Arsenal in 2019 from St Etienne before returning to the French side on loan.

Arsenal have a couple of English central defenders in Rob Holding and Calum Chambers and, according to Football Insider, the Gunners are looking to extend the contract of the former.

Holding has been one of the most used players under Mikel Arteta this season, playing alongside both Gabriel and David Luiz. Arsenal’s biggest problem currently has been in the offensive third, but despite a decent start to the season defensively, recent matches have brought the area into focus.

Holding himself scored an own goal in Arsenal’s 2-1 loss against Everton. Rumours were circling the Arsenal were pursuing a possible right-sided centre-back in January, which would provide extra competition for Holding.

Protecting value

A mistake that Arsenal have consistently made with their players is allowing them to run down to the final years of their contract without renegotiating a new deal. This recently happened with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who signed a new extension on significantly increased wages.

Arsenal were in danger of losing the Gabonese forward for very little considering the £50 million-plus investment they made in 2018. Other key players such as Aaron Ramsey and Alexis Sanchez have also left the club due to their contract running down.

Wenger issues Aaron Ramsey contract update & reveals the key factor which will make him stay. https://t.co/tOg6KM9dTW

— football.london (@Football_LDN) March 15, 2018

There were rumours in the summer suggesting Holding would move on from Arsenal, specifically to Newcastle United. The deal then was for a loan, however at the completion of this season Holding will have just 2 years left on his deal.

Having looked at past contractual mistakes, Arsenal seem to be working to secure the future of players so that if they were to leave Arsenal, the club would be inclined to demand a significantly higher fee than that of a player with just 1 or 2 years left on their deal.

The move makes sense, however, Arsenal and their supporters will hopefully look to sign even better players in the position to secure a defence which has been leaky over many past campaigns.

Explanation provided for Rob Holding’s last-minute exclusion for Arsenal vs Man City

Arsenal boss Arteta explains Rob Holding captaincy vs Everton/Potential Martinell impact

This article was edited by Josh Barker.

Source: 101greatgoals.com