Report: Emery shower praise on this Arsenal star following his brilliant performances

Arsenal manager Unai Emery believes Rob Holding has vindicated his decision to keep him at Arsenal this season, according to GiveMeSport.

The youngster has grown into a key figure in this Emery Gunners side this season, starting 11 of the last 13 games across all competitions and has impressed so far.

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But it could have been entirely different, in fact he could have been turning out for a different club now had Arsenal not decided to keep him amid some reported bids in the summer following Emery’s arrival.

Callum Chambers was loaned out to Fulham instead and injuries to Laurent Koscielny and later Kostas Mavropanos gave Holding first team opportunities, a further injury to Sokratis Papasthatopoulos gave him the chance to cement his place in the starting lineup and he hasn’t looked back since then.

Speaking of Holding, Emery said: “We decided for him to stay here and when he had chances, he played well and he helped us with big performances,”

“Every match is a test, another test for Rob to do that. He is improving, he is taking confidence and with confidence he is at his best.

“In the pre-season we also had Mavropanos – but he is injured now – we had also Chambers and we decided to let him go on loan to Fulham and we decided that Rob Holding stayed here.

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“But in the pre-season, every decision was looking at the matches with the players and finding the best performance in this moment.”

He will have to do well in the coming weeks to keep his position with club captain Koscielny and Mavropanos returning from injury, which will lead to increase in competition for places.