“He Needs To Be Strong” – Laurent Koscielny Sends Words Of Encouragement For Holding

Laurent Koscielny insists that the squad will support Rob Holding…

Arsenal skipper Laurent Koscielny stated that the squad will be supportive of Rob Holding as he begins his long road to recovery following a cruciate knee ligament injury, the Frenchman told the club’s official website.

Holding suffered the injury at Old Trafford earlier this month in a clash with Marcus Rashford, an incident which immediately gave the impression that something serious occurred.

It was confirmed by the club that the 23-year-old would be out for ‘6-9 months’ and after just returning from his own long lay-off, Koscielny insists the support will be there for Holding.

The England U21 international was arguably our most consistent defender this term and his absence has been keenly felt as we prepare for our trip to Southampton on Sunday.

Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi are banned for the Premier League clash, while Dinos Mavropanos hasn’t played a minute all season.

It means we’re severely lacking in numbers at the moment which is a further blow to Unai Emery.

“I sent him a lot of messages,” Koscielny said about his fellow central defender.

“It’s a difficult period for him but he needs to be strong, and to stay strong,

“I know he’s a defender so he likes to fight, and the most important thing is to be with him, to help him every day.

“We know during rehab you have some good moments and some bad moments, because you don’t always progress as you wanted. But he knows we are all here at Arsenal for him, we are his family as well.

“So if he wants to talk or come with us, he knows he can come because it’s our family.”

Koscielny knows all about coming back from a long layoff after his recent rehabilitation period following an achilles injury. Players often reference the mental battle and how it outweighs the physical work, and that’s where the help comes in.

Holding is young, and hopefully, this recovery will allow him to develop areas he may have neglected during his swift rise.