Bent pleased with Arsenal’s reported transfer u-turn on their player who ‘turned into Ronaldinho’

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Darren Bent has expressed his delight at Mikel Arteta telling BT Sport that Rob Holding’s ‘not going anywhere’ despite rumours that he was going to leave.

Holding started Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Fulham on Saturday and Bent told talkSPORT (13/09/20 at 6:50 pm) that the centre-back ‘turned into Ronaldinho’ during the game.

After winning the ball in Fulham’s half, Holding started doing keepy-uppy’s past three defenders and into the final third, as that remarkable piece of skill nearly resulted in his side scoring – the look on Alexandre Lacazette and Holding’s face soon after was one of ‘how did you manage that?’.

Even though Bent played for the other team in North London, he is a boyhood Arsenal fan and still clearly has the club at heart because he was pretty pleased to hear that Arteta had performed a u-turn on Holding’s future.

“Yessss, yess,” Bent laughed when being told that Arteta wants to keep Holding. “Rob Holding against Fulham was absolutely superb.

“I didn’t want him to go in the first place. I can understand that they signed two new centre-halves and maybe he’s surplus to requirement. But he has shown me on lots of occasions that he’s a very, very good defender and he can play.

“I think Arteta trusts him, and against Fulham, he turned into Ronaldinho, with his keep ups. I am really glad that Holding is staying. I am sure Arsenal fans are aswell.”

The Daily Mail have claimed that Arteta has pulled the plug on Holding potentially going out on a season-long loan to Newcastle.

Arsenal have eight centre-back’s at their disposal, and even though the supporters have been crying out for some real quality in that position for a long time, most of those players haven’t been able to provide that quality – Gabriel, who scored on his debut, was purchased this summer.

Despite such problems at the back for the Gunners, it could be argued that Holding has been one of the better players for the club and a player who could still progress into a top-quality performer.