Rob Holding has admitted that he models his game on former Manchester United defender, Rio Ferdinand.

The centre-back, who is originally from Manchester, to be fair, claims that he admired the ex-England international’s partnership on the pitch with Nemanja Vidic.

“Growing up I liked to think I modelled my game on Rio Ferdinand, especially the way he played when he was in a partnership with Nemanja Vidic at Manchester United,” the former Bolton boy told Arsenal Player.

Of course, since he is an Arsenal player, whoever was interviewing him probably gave him a kick in the shin and he remembered to name some Arsenal heroes, too.

“I also watched Arsenal growing up and they had the likes of Tony Adams, Sol Campbell and Martin Keown who are all top-drawer centre halves that I admired and wanted to be like.

“I just liked how much of a leader they were on the pitch, Tony Adams especially. Sol Campbell was just a brick wall and you couldn’t get around him.

“I was pretty limited to watching the Premier League. I’d say Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique [were other players I admired] at Barcelona. They’re two top-drawer centre halves and I like Sergio Ramos and Pepe at Real Madrid too.”

Stop it.

I kid, I kid. It’s fine for players, especially youngsters, to have looked up to people from other clubs when they were growing up (although I’m slightly worried about Pepe). This is how they first realise they have a passion for football, so, in a way, we should be thankful.

Holding seems like a nice lad and I’m sure his loyalties lie firmly with the Gunners now that he’s wearing our shirt.

https://twitter.com/RobHolding95/status/759998033127940096

The 20-year-old scored his first goal for us against Chivas on Sunday. We won the game 3-1 and he put in another solid performance. If he carries on like this, who knows…perhaps he could be an Arsenal hero one day?