Arsenal have high hopes for Lino Sousa and the teenager could end up being fast-tracked into first-team contention under Mikel Arteta.
Arsenal are always looking for exciting young talents for their developmental ranks.
For instance, young striker Mika Biereth traded Fulham for Arsenal last summer and seems set for a big future.
The Gunners made another move in January of this year, raiding the West Brom ranks to sign defender Sousa.
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Arsenal have high hopes for Lino Sousa
Sousa was coming through the West Brom ranks but ended up going the same way as Izzy Brown, Jerome Sinclair and Yan Dhanda in leaving the club at an early age.
That decision didn’t really work for Brown, Sinclair or Dhanda but Sousa is showing promise at Arsenal.
The 17-year-old is understood to have impressed Mikel Arteta during first-team training within months of arriving.
Sousa was also hailed as ‘outstanding’ by former Gunners coach Kevin Betsy, who has now become Crawley Town manager.
Sousa has been an England Under-16 international but can also play for Brazil – something for him to consider in the coming years.
The first target will be to secure first-team football with Arsenal though, and that may not be all that far away.
Goal’s Arsenal correspondent Charles Watts has taken to YouTube to claim that Arsenal staff are raving about Sousa.
Watts noted that Sousa is ‘hugely talented’ and the plan may now be for him to be fast-tracked into the Under-23’s next season.
Watts thinks Arsenal may have released left back Joel Lopez in order to clear the way for Sousa in the Under-23’s, with his rapid rise pushing him closer and closer to senior action.
“I think the main reason for (Arsenal letting Lopez go) is probably Lino Sousa, who obviously came in from West Brom in January,” said Watts. “Only 17 years old but made a big, big impression in the second half of the season, really hugely talented player. Lots of people at the club rave about him when you speak to them about how good this kid is.”
“This is just me presuming, but I would imagine a big reason for Lopez being let go is that it’s just going to free up the space at left-back for Sousa to come in and get a lot of minute at Under-23 football. Although he’s only 17 and can still play for the Under-18s, I think, judging by how good he’s been and how highly-rated he is, they want to get him fast-tracked into playing plenty of minutes for the Under-23s as soon as possible,” he added.
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