Is this the new Fabio Cannavaro? (Picture: Getty)
Is this the new Fabio Cannavaro? (Picture: Getty)

Arsenal fans are falling in love with Rob Holding after his tremendous first-team breakthrough towards the end of the season, and unleashed a new chant for him today.

The 21-year-old started in defence again against Stoke City, with the Gunners running out 4-1 winners at the Britannia Stadium to keep themselves in the hunt for a top four place.

Holding’s form since Arsene Wenger changed to a back three has been crucial to the team’s recent improvement, and the youngster has earned himself a special song from the Arsenal crowd as a reward.

Based on Pilot’s 1975 hit ‘Magic’, the chant goes: ‘Rob Holding, you know. He’s better than Cannavaro’ – a reference to former World Player of the Year winner Fabio Cannavaro, widely considered to be among the best defenders of the modern era.

That may be a bit of a stretch, but Holding’s presence in the team does seem to have made a real difference for Arsenal throughout this season.

Not always a regular for the first half of the campaign, the former Bolton man has still helped the north Londoners to eight wins from the last eight games in which he’s started.

Wenger is so often criticised for not spending big money on more established players, but he seems to have found another top young talent here in Holding, who cost just £2.5million last summer.

The player himself was a fan of the chant, tweeting afterwards to thank the supporters after the trip to Stoke.

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