Thursday, November 7, 2024

Report: Aston Villa lining up a shock move for Arsenal defender

Aston Villa are reportedly lining up a shock move for one of Arsenal’s defenders as they aim to recover from a long-term injury suffered by Diego Carlos.

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According to a report from Jake Bayliss at the Birmingham Mail, Villa have been forced into recruiting another defender and Rob Holding is part of their list.

Villa have confirmed Carlos has ruptured his achilles tendon which is likely to rule him out for the majority of the season, leaving Steven Gerrard with a big hole in his squad.

In what is a massive blow following Carlos’ £26m move from Sevilla this summer, and now Villa are looking for a low cost, quality option that can slot straight in.

Whilst also having free agent, Jason Dennayer, on their radar, the possibility of signing Holding is intriguing as a proven option that would easily adapt to Villa’s style of play.

Currently Arsenal’s fourth choice centre back, Holding is now on the outskirts of getting into the starting XI and if a viable offer was submitted, I think we’d consider it.

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If Holding did follow in the footsteps of former Gunner and best mate, Calum Chambers, then Mikel Arteta would still have options should an injury crisis arrive.

With Takehiro Tomiyasu capable of playing centre back, it would allow Arsenal to manage if the very worst were to happen.

We’ve seen what a positive influence Holding has been during the Amazon Prime documentary, but this feels like a summer of change at London Colney.

Holding is a very good back-up option to have on the books, but you can’t see that changing this season and how Arsenal react to an offer would be interesting.

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