Exclusive: Arsenal rejecting ’embarrassing’ Rob Holding bid with real price to aim for revealed

Rob Holding can ‘definitely’ leave Arsenal this summer, Charles Watts has told TEAMtalk – but any hopes Besiktas have of landing him for £2million are ’embarrassing’.

Holding has been at Arsenal since 2016, when they bought him from Bolton Wanderers. However, his future at the club has come into question recently after it was reported by David Ornstein for The Athletic that Besiktas have made a lowball bid to take him to Turkey.

Arsenal already have William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Benjamin White and Jakub Kiwior as their other main options at centre-back. Furthermore, they have announced the signing of Jurrien Timber from Ajax.

Therefore, Holding may be able to find a more prominent role at another club.

But for that to be Besiktas, the amount of money on offer would have to substantially increase from their initial suggestion.

Watts told TEAMtalk: “It’s a shocking bid. Rob Holding gets so much unfair grief. People say Rob Holding cost Arsenal the league title but injuries cost Arsenal the league and some poor decisions and big moments that they didn’t take advantage of. It certainly wasn’t Rob Holding. He’s a very good Premier League defender.

“For Besiktas to bid £2million for a 27-year-old, who has still got a couple of years left on his contract, who has played in the Premier League for the last six or seven years and won the FA Cup, this is a shocking bid, embarrassing. It quite rightly will be rejected.

“Holding can definitely go this summer, 100 percent. Arsenal are open to letting Rob Holding leave this summer. But someone’s going to have to pay a hell of a lot more than £2million to get that done. It’s just nowhere near the valuation that Arsenal would expect for a player of his quality, of his age, of his Premier League experience. It was an embarrassing offer.”

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Rob Holding can be worth £10m or more for Arsenal

According to Watts, Arsenal would be well within their rights to ask for a £10million fee for Holding, especially when taking into account some other business involving the club.

Watts added: “I would have double figures for Rob Holding. Arsenal just sold Pablo Mari. He went to Monza all in for around £7million or £8million. Holding should go for more than that.

“When you’re comparing him to Pablo Mari, what he’s done in his career, and what Rob Holding has done in his career, he’s a good English Premier League defender, he could do a job in the Premier League for lots of clubs, certainly the lower half downwards in the Premier League.

“He’s a really good, experienced, solid defender. He’s got excellent leadership qualities. And he’s got an awful lot to give.

“He still has a year left on his contract but Arsenal have got an option to extend that by another year. So basically, he’s got two years left on his contract. So for me, double figures, £10million, I would say is the bare minimum you’d look for for Rob Holding leaving Arsenal.

“They’ve got the reputation of giving players away over the last few years, and it’s right. It’s not a surprise because some of the deals they’ve done have been really, really poor when it comes to selling players. They can’t continue to do that.

“You’ve got to try and get as much money as you possibly can for these players like Rob Holding. He’s not a world class superstar, but he’s a good Premier League player and you cannot just be giving him away. You’ve definitely got to be aiming for at least £10million.”

Meanwhile, TEAMtalk has compared Declan Rice’s statistics to Arsenal’s other midfielders from the 2022-23 season.