Arsenal have made their first signing of the 2022 January transfer window.
Who have Arsenal signed?
To the disappointment of many fans, the player signed is not Dusan Vlahovic, nor is he is a central midfielder or striker.
Instead, Arsenal have signed a left-back. The player in question? Lino Da Cruz Sousa.
But who is the now-former West Brom man?
Who is Lino Da Cruz Sousa?
Well, Lino Sousa, as he is more commonly referred to, is a 16-year-old left-back who had been on the books of Championship side, West Brom.
Sousa, despite being 16, has been a regular feature for West Brom’s under-18 side, and has even made an appearance for their under-23 team.
Sousa was also called up for an England training camp in March of 2020, and he has gone on to represent the Young Lions at under-15 and 16 level.
For those who do not know much about him, West Brom under-18’s coach Peter Gilbert had this to say on the teenager:
“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.”
Football.london reported the signing on Tuesday evening, though no potential transfer fee has been provided.
FL also provided some insight into why Arsenal have signed Lino Sousa, claiming that Arsenal’s academy chief, Per Mertesacker, had earmarked the left-back position as one particular area where the Gunners needed to strengthen at academy level. And now they have obviously done so.
With Arsenal’s first-choice left-back Kieran Tierney still only 24 and their second-choice option, Nuno Tavares, only recently turning 21, it will be interesting to see if Sousa will be able to work his way into Mikel Arteta’s thoughts over the coming years as the north Londoners do seem to be well covered in that area for a while now.
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