Arsenal snapped up Rob Holding for just £2.5m last summer – ten times cheaper than Burnley’s Everton-linked talisman Michael Keane.
Rob Holding may not have set the world alight in his debut season at The Emirates but the 21-year-old has not looked out of place in Arsenal colours.
Plucked from League One-bound Bolton Wanderers for just £2.5 million last summer (Daily Mail), The Trotters’ 2015/16 Player of the Year has all the natural attributes to be yet another supremely talented youngster transformed into a first team regular by Arsene Wenger.
And the fact that Holding has started each of Arsenal’s last five Premier League games since Wenger broke the mould and embraced the in-vogue back three only raises hopes that he can build on a promising first season in North London.
Holding the fort
And Holding’s progression will surely not have escaped Everton’s attention. According to the Daily Mail, the ball-playing centre-back was scouted extensively by The Toffees as he stood head and shoulders above his underperforming Bolton colleagues.
With manager Ronald Koeman an exponent of the ‘if you’re good enough, you’re old enough’ mantra, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that the two-time England Under-21 international would already be one of the first names on The Toffees’ team-sheet.
As it stands, however, Everton will be forced into the market for defensive reinforcements this season as Koeman plans for life beyond 30-something duo Phil Jagielka and Ashley Williams.
Keen on Keane
And it’s common knowledge that Burnley’s no-nonsense centre-back Michael Keane is one of their top summer targets – despite a £25 million price tag hanging over his head, per The Mirror.
That, for any stat lovers out there, is ten times more than Arsenal invested in Holding 12 months ago. Perhaps if Everton had won the race for the cultured centre-back, they would not need to splurge such a huge sum on Keane this summer.
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