Fans remain baffled as to why former Arsenal star Rob Holding has been exiled from Crystal Palace’s first team.
Roy Hodgson signed Holding on summer deadline day in 2023 for just £1million, with the defender looking to make a fresh start in south London.
But he has made just one appearance for Palace to date in the 3-0 Carabao Cup loss at Manchester United a year ago to the day.
Injuries ruled the defender out for much of last season but after featuring in pre-season under new manager Oliver Glasner, it was expected he would play a more active role for the Eagles.
But since being an unused sub in the loss to West Ham in August, Holding has not featured in a single matchday squad, with Glasner later revealing that he was training away from the first-team.
The player himself then fuelled speculation that his Palace career was over by deleting all references of the Premier League club from his social media accounts.
And on Thursday there was the final nail in the coffin: Palace posted their official 2024/25 squad photo, featuring both the men’s and women’s teams, with Holding nowhere to be found.
This lead to fans on Twitter beginning their own search party to uncover just where the 29-year-old had vanished to, with @pelova21 tweeting: ‘They’re not letting Rob Holding out the basement.’
‘Netflix documentary idea: Finding Rob: The search for Rob Holding,’ Parag Patel posted, while @Luke_Seychell added: ‘Rob Holding not in the photo – honestly just terminate his contract mutually, best for all parties.’
‘Rob Holding nowhere to be seen. Fellas disappeared quicker than this hairline,’ @RyArsenal quipped.
@NorrisSZN__ pondered: ‘Did Rob Holding go to one too many Zach Bryan shows because why has he missed out on the squad photo?’
Why have Crystal Palace exiled Rob Holding?
In August, Glasner said: ‘Rob is training individually at the moment. We had a talk together and he knows the reason but it’s something that stays between Rob and me.
Asked whether he had a future at Palace, the manager added: ‘This is his and the club’s decision, but it’s not possible before, so the next opportunity for him is January.’
The Athletic have reported that Holding and Glasner fell out following the aforementioned loss to West Ham.
It is said the centre-back questioned the Austrian over doing a post-match running session as he was concerned about an injury he was nursing.
He eventually took part in the session but afterward Glasner told him to train alone with the under-21s.
But for those concerned about his whereabouts fear not, as Holding did make a rare appearance on Tuesday night in Palace U21s 3-1 win over Gillingham in the EFL Trophy.
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