Arsenal's Rob Holding hopes coaching course will help him on and off the pitch

Rob Holding has revealed he is going to begin working on his coaching qualifications before the end of the year.

The Arsenal centre-back, 23, will join team-mate Danny Welbeck in working on his badges, and is convinced he won’t have to wait until he retires to feel the benefit of his work off the pitch.

“I’m going to start the courses this year,” he said. “I spoke with Danny [Welbeck] about it the other day because they were looking for an extra person on the course.

“He is really interested in it so I will speak to him more about it. There are lots of benefits to it, not just for after your career.

“It also helps on the pitch, talking and communicating, if you are more used to doing that as a coach. Instructing people should become second nature and you can take it into your game.”

Holding and the rest of the Arsenal squad have been on the receiving end of intense coaching of their own from new head coach Unai Emery, who has led an overhaul of training at London Colney.

Emery has installed a tented gym pitch side on the training fields to ensure the intensity of his sessions never drops. Holding is certainly feeling it.

“They are definitely demanding and intense, and that’s helping us as players,” he said. “We are practising game scenarios defensively and attacking-wise as well, so they are demanding, but it’s improving us all individually.

“It’s intense but there’s a great sense of humour in the group as well. You see people like [Alexandre] Lacazette and [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang with their bromance that they’ve got going!

“There’s a great atmosphere in the team, but we know when it’s time to work and when we can have a breather and relax. Everyone is getting along really well at the moment.”