Arsenal were dumped out of the Europa League on penalties by Sporting CP, ending their chances of continental glory at the last-16 stage.

It could well be a blessing however, with the Gunners chasing their first Premier League crown since 2003/2004, yet manager Mikel Arteta will be stewing over the performances of some of his players.

Fabio Vieira was extremely disappointing during the tie, receiving a woeful Sofascore rating of 5.9/10 which was enough to rate him as statistically, the worst performer on the field.

He took only 47 touches across his 101 minutes on the pitch, won just one of his 11 duels and lost possession 13 times during the encounter, underling how poor he really was.

Following injuries to Takehiro Tomiyasu and William Saliba, Arteta had to make some early changes, bringing on Ben White and Rob Holding, but it’s clear from his performance that the latter must finally leave the Emirates at the end of the season.

Will Rob Holding leave Arsenal this summer?

The long-serving centre-back has been at the Gunners since 2016, yet has never fully commanded a place in the starting XI.

Indeed, across seven campaigns with Arsenal, he has played in more than 15 Premier League matches only once, back in 2020/2021 and overall, the defender has played just 155 times for the club.

Of course, missing 54 matches due to injuries doesn’t help, but it’s evident on his performances this season and especially last night, that if Arteta wishes to take Arsenal far into the Champions League and win major trophies, an upgrade is required.

Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville even described the 27-year-old as “erratic” last year and against Sporting, he lost possession ten times, made zero tackles and missed a big chance and the club may have had better success had he not been on the field.

The Englishman hasn’t even started a league match this term, averaging just four minutes per game during his seven substitute appearances and with the player on a reported £40k-per-week, this could be money better spent elsewhere.

He has just over a year left on his current contract and if the Spaniard wants to earn a fee for the player, then this summer will be the ideal time to move him on.

The 40-year-old is attempting to build a dynasty at the club, a new era in which the north Londoners can emerge as one of the country's finest teams and players such as Holding must be moved on as part of the process.