Mikel Arteta’s true colours clear to see after his phone call to departing Arsenal star

Rob Holding revealed a touching conversation he had with Mikel Arteta after leaving Arsenal.

Holding, who was part of the main Arsenal squad from 2016 and worked under Arsene Wenger, Unai Emery, and most recently, Arteta, moved to Crystal Palace last summer. He claimed that after his transfer, he received a phone call from Arteta that showcased the manager's kindness and empathy on a different level.

According to Holding, Arteta thanked him for his commitment to the club and reliability since the start of his tenure as manager. In an interview with Harry's Gym Chat, Holding said: "I do think that (I excelled at) understanding stuff because even in meetings with Arteta, we would be going through team shape in the actual meeting on the video, and he would always say a sentence and then leave the answer at the end and you had to fill in the answer - someone had to shout out the answer.

"I just found myself doing it all the time, and he actually rang me when I left and just said like thank you for everything, like you were there from the start of his reign at Arsenal till the end. That was nice because you very rarely get that.

"He's quite an intense guy, so to have that sort of just relaxed conversation with him was nice and to just sort of give me that approval. I was like 'you know what, I'm glad you've said that because it did make me feel good'."

Arteta and Rob Holding

Arteta and Rob Holding (Image: James Williamson - AMA/Getty Images)

During those initial years under the Spanish boss's reign, Holding was a mainstay in defence - bagging five goals in 162 outings as the centre-back, reports the Mirror. Yet, his stint was marred by a knee injury come December 2018; a blow that benched him for a lengthy nine months.

Post-recovery, the centre-half found his spot on the squad tricky to nail down. Ultimately, he bid farewell to a seven-year tenure at Arsenal with a move to Palace on summer's Deadline Day in 2023, for a modest £4million.

Since donning the Palace jersey, Holding's time on the pitch has been sparse with just a singular show during their Carabao Cup thrashing at Old Trafford against Manchester United.