David Luiz was setting the sort of standards Rob Holding wants to follow, on and off the pitch, well before they were - Arsenal team-mates.
The Englishman was pleasantly stunned when Luiz, then at Chelsea , got in touch to wish him well in his rehabilitation after he suffered an awful knee ligament injury in December.
The boost Holding had from the Brazilian’s text played a big part in him not getting too down during his days on the sidelines.
And it prompted the 24-year-old to message one or two others who were in a similar situation to his own.
One of them was Bournemouth ’s Lewis Cook, who suffered the same injury in a 2-1 win over Huddersfield on the same night the Arsenal defender suffered his in a 2-2 draw away at Manchester United .
Holding will see Cook this afternoon when the Cherries visit north London.
He said: “I was never at England Under-21s with Lewis, but because we had the same injury at the same time and had surgery on the same day, we kept in touch with each other.
“When Sol Bamba, at Cardiff , got his injury I gave him a message, just because when I got injured I got random messages from players I had never met.
“David Luiz, funnily enough, ended up being here, but he messaged me out of the blue and I was a bit taken aback by that.
“He just said, ‘It happens. You’ve got a great career ahead of you, just focus and you’ll be good’.
“I felt like, ‘If he’s doing that for me, why can’t I do that for someone else? It might just give them a little boost’. Philippe Senderos also got in touch, as did Ian Wright.
“The little Arsenal family came around and got around me. It’s a nice little touch to give me that boost.
“When you go through an injury like that and you’re out for nine or 10 months, rivalries are put aside and you get behind each other.”
Luiz and Holding became team-mates in the summer when Arsenal paid £8million for him.
Holding added: “If I have half the career he has had, I’ll be happy. He’s a great, experienced head to have around and he’s one of the nicest guys as well, who has come in and gathered the team around him.
“He’s settled in and shared his experiences.”
Holding was enjoying the best form of his career and there was talk of a possible England call-up when injury struck.
So now he’s ready to get back to playing regular first-team football and he hopes to catch the eye of Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate, whose inclusion of Chelsea youngster Fikayo Tomori in his latest squad shows he is looking at his central defensive options.
Holding added: “Since Gareth Southgate has taken over, there have been a lot of young lads who have been brought into the team.
“You see the likes of Ben Chilwell and Harry Maguire stepping in for the World Cup, and now Tomori getting in there.
“So there’s a chance. You just have to keep playing and I’m sure you’ll get noticed.”
