'The journey I’ve made in a year'

Even Rob Holding can’t believe just how far he has come in the past 12 months.

After being relegated from the Championship with Bolton Wanderers at the end of the 2015/16 season, the England Under-21 international joined us in the summer and played a starring role in Saturday’s Emirates FA Cup final victory.

• Watch all the goals from the cup final
• The best of our on-pitch celebrations
• Pictures: How we won the FA Cup
• 'This was the Mertesacker Final'
• Read the match report from Wembley

“When we were celebrating at the end, I just sat down and thought, ‘Last year I was devastated at Derby when I got relegated with Bolton’,” he said. “To go from that to winning the FA Cup in the space of a year is crazy.

“I’m lost for words really. When the final whistle went, it was a crazy feeling. I never thought I’d experience it but we got the job done. Hopefully there’s more to come.”

Holding received plaudits after the game for how he fared against Diego Costa, and the 21-year-old was pleased with his performance alongside Per Mertesacker.

“If he gets one in 90 minutes, I’ve done my job,’ he said. “They’re a strong team as we’ve seen over the season and they’ve won a lot of games in the Premier League. We knew it would be a tough game but we managed to keep our high intensity, pressed them high and didn’t let them play.

“It’s the first time Per and I have played with each other apart from in training. A guy like Per has won the World Cup so he’s going to make it comfortable for me as well. He’s a quality player.”