Arsenal newboy Lino Sousa is continuing to catch the eye of first team staff including Mikel Arteta, football.london understands. The 17-year-old joined the Gunners from West Brom in January and has already made nine appearances for Arsenal's Under-18's and 23s.
Sousa, who is of Brazilian heritage, played two years above his age group for West Brom Under-18's last season and has been earmarked as a potential star of the future by those within London Colney.
football.london exclusively revealed the transfer in January and according to West Brom's official website, Sousa is a widely versatile left-back who has caught the attention of several Premier League sides due to his fantastic dribbling ability and close control. Arteta regularly hands opportunities to Arsenal's younger players and integrates them into first-team training sessions with Sousa recently scoring for the Under-23's in the 3-3 draw with Manchester City.
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He has done that more in recent weeks as the Gunners now have a smaller squad following the departures of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Calum Chambers and Pablo Mari during the winter window.
Sousa was called up for an England training camp in March 2020 and he's gone on to represent the Young Lions at under-15 and 16 level. In addition to featuring in a higher age group for the Baggies, the fullback started a Premier League 2 match against Newcastle in February 2021.
"Lino’s an athletic full-back, reads the game well, has a lovely left foot and it's not often a 16-year-old plays an entire season with the 18s, but that’s credit to him because he has so much potential," said West Brom under-18's coach Peter Gilbert.
Kieran Tierney has been ruled out for the rest of the season after it was confirmed that he will require surgery on his knee. It's expected that Nuno Tavares will deputise for the Scotland international, with the likes of Mazeed Ogungbo and Sousa on the fringes of the first team.
