Rob Holding was the proverbial scapegoat at Arsenal, perhaps rather harshly.
Yes, his performances in a red and white shirt in the last few seasons haven't been anything to shout about, but the centre-back arguably became a victim of the club's success.
Mikel Arteta has totally transformed the Gunners since arriving at the Emirates and with that, the north Londoners have rid themselves of toxic and underperforming characters.
The Spaniard famously banished Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, got rid of Shkodran Mustafi and more recently, ripped up Nicolas Pepe's contract.
Holding will take comfort that it never got that bad for him. Still an incredibly well-liked character around Colney, he was eventually sold to Crystal Palace this summer.
That wasn't, however, without being one of the main culprits for Arsenal's title charge collapsing last season.
Why did Arsenal's title challenge crumble?
The date is 16th March 2023 as William Saliba trudges from the field. An innocuous injury was hoped to be nothing serious.
Arsenal eventually crashed out of the Europa League on penalties against Sporting on that same night, but the consequences of Saliba's injury would become far more serious.
The Frenchman didn't play again that season, with Holding the man who was tasked with partnering Gabriel at centre-back.
Such an injury cannot be helped but a lack of depth in central defensive areas certainly can. Look at Jurrien Timber's arrival this summer for the lessons learned in the back end of last season.
It is typical that he has now suffered his own injury problem, that of a crushing ACL blow, but the hope will be that Arteta can call upon Saliba as much as possible now. After all, with him on the pitch last term, Arsenal only conceded 0.9 goals per game but without him, that figure remarkably doubles to 1.8. Their win ratio also dropped from 77.8% to just 40% too. Worrying indeed.
That said, with Jakub Kiwior now up to speed and the likes of Gabriel and Ben White shining too, there is confidence that such a defensive collapse won't happen again this term.
Speaking of White, the former Brighton star's rise has been rather meteoric.
What was said about Ben White when he first joined Arsenal?
The defender's arrival at Arsenal in the summer of 2021 was one that raised eyebrows.
He had caught the eye on loan with Leeds United under Marcelo Bielsa en route to winning promotion with the Yorkshire-based side.
White had then only enjoyed one full season of Premier League football after returning to parent club Brighton, but that was enough for Edu and co to shell out £50m to secure his services.
That was a remarkable amount of money given his inexperience and at surface level, as James B of AFTV pointed out, he was actually "worse" in some areas of the game than the aforementioned Holding.
Indeed, the latter was far more accustomed to playing in the opposition's half, making 0.18 tackles in the attacking third to White's 0.11.
What's interesting, though, is that Holding played a great deal more passes throughout the 2020/21 campaign. Considering White is renowned as a ball-playing defender, this is surprising.
As per FBref, the former completed 52.2 passes per 90 minutes compared to the 42 of White and the ex Brighton defender also had a poorer percentage of passes in various thirds of the pitch per 90 minutes.
255.08 progressive pass distance
360.60 progressive pass distance
16.19 short passes completed
16.54 short passes completed
3.69 long passes completed
6.44 long passes completed
3.30 passes into final third
4.33 passes into final third
Not only that but Holding bettered White in several key defensive metrics per 90 minutes, namely tackles (1.51 vs 1.38) and aerial duels won (2.50 vs 1.38).
How good is Ben White now?
Since that campaign White has only gone from strength to strength while Holding has faded into obscurity.
That was truly evident during Arsenal's All or Nothing documentary for Amazon Prime. One scene broadcasted a conversation between the £50m man and Carlos Cuesta, one of Arteta's right hand men.
Speaking to the defender, Cuesta noted: "You have all the potential to be a world-class player," before labelling his biggest strength. The full clip can be seen below…
That world-class potential is now certainly being lived up to, but not in the position we perhaps thought he'd make his own.
Initially a centre-back, the 25-year-old is now Arsenal's first choice right-back. So good was his form that he was among the England squad for the World Cup in Qatar.
White may not have got on the field but it was evidence of a man in the best form of his life.
Comparing his stats to Holding now would be redundant. Instead, looking at how he ranks within Europe's top five leagues is the biggest litmus.
The former Leeds loanee may now play in a team that keeps the ball for longer periods of play but his passing has gone up a level, ranking in the top 10% of full-backs on the continent for passes attempted per 90 (68.39) and the best 9% for pass completion.
Crucially, he also makes tackles more regularly than he did in his final campaign with Brighton, making 1.48 every 90.
Whether or not onlookers agreed with the price tag when he arrived, it's safe to say he's proven the doubters wrong. The funny thing is, knowing the full-back's personality, he wouldn't have cared in the slightest what anyone thought after he moved to the Gunners.
