Arsenal youngster Rob Holding has had a solid first season for the Gunners, and club legend Martin Keown has offered his advice to help him continue to improve.

Spending such a small transfer fee on a player that hadn’t played in the Premier League before now seems a masterstroke at the end of this first season. Keown had plenty of good things to say about the England U21 international in an interview on Arsenal player reported by the Metro:

“He’s been quite remarkable. He’s very understated, very good in possession. He’s calm, never panics and you never really see him beaten for pace”

However, he also had some words of advice for Rob, telling him that he should get back to Arsenal for pre-season as soon as possible, and work on cementing a place in the team.

Although Holding went with the under-21s to the World Cup, he didn’t appear during the tournament. He may be given the option of an extended break by the club, but Keown thinks he should just take the normal holiday and get back on the pitch.

“He needs to keep himself right, have a break of a couple of weeks but no longer, because he’s fighting for his place. That’s the way he’s got to look at it. Possession is nine tenths of the law and that’s the way he needs to look at it, like ‘I’m in the team and I’m going to stay in the team'”

Whenever he comes back, most Arsenal fans will be hoping that Holding gets a bit more time in the team this season, to help him gain experience and hopefully carry last season’s late form into the start of 2017/18.

The young centre-back initially featured while players were still returning from late holidays after the 2016 European Championships, but he looked composed every time he played, particularly when paired with experienced centre-back Laurent Koscielny.

As the season went on, injuries hit the defence and their form nosedived so Arsène Wenger changed the team up, bringing in Holding as part of a back three. From this point on, Holding and the team went on a fantastic run of form – the former Bolton man in particular was picked out by the fans for his role in their success given Arsenal failed to lose with him in the side.