Arsenal have confirmed that Rob Holding has extended his contract with the club until 2024, with an option for a further year.
The 25-year-old has been a key player for the Gunners this season, playing more minutes than any other defender except for Kieran Tierney.
He has established himself as one of the first names on Mikel Arteta's team sheet and was even handed the captain's armband in the game against Everton.
And now his efforts have been rewarded with a deal that will run until 2024 with the option for a further 12 months at the end of that period.
It's quite the turnaround for a player who Mikel Arteta admitted came close to leaving over the summer.
"It's true that in the summer he came to me because we had a large amount of central defenders, he wasn't sure about how many minutes he was going to have," said the Spaniard.
"And we stopped him going anywhere because we knew he was going to be an important player for us."
It had looked as though he would be nothing more than a squad player this season but his performances have made him almost undroppable.
Arteta revealed that the former Bolton defender's character and professionalism are what's helped him become such a key member in the side.
"Yeah well, it was almost a year ago when he came back from his injury," he said. "He had a period where he didn't play and they he played against Leeds at home.
"When you compare how he has evolved from there in a year's time it's incredible. It's down to him. How professional he is, how much he wants to learn, how much he puts that into every training session and then his character and his personality.
"He's growing in every aspect and I'm really happy with him."
The two-time FA Cup winner looks set to play a big part over the next four years at the Emirates.
David Luiz, Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis are all out of contract this summer, with the latter looking to leave this window, while Calum Chambers has just eighteen months remaining on his current deal, and William Saliba's future is up in the air.
You can follow all the other Arsenal transfer updates this January with our transfer window live blog.
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