Arteta is the main reason why I left Arsenal,He doesn’t treat His players equally’: £40m Arsenal player finally reveals why He left EMIRATE last summer – Not Aubameyang
Although all is well at Arsenal right now, fans may still be slightly disappointed that one player was allowed to leave in January.
Mikel Arteta’s side had a quiet month as planned, preparing for another big summer spend.
Perhaps Arsenal will finally seek a deal to sign Brentford striker Ivan Toney, who is endlessly linked with the club.
Either way, it’s clear that Arteta’s side will have considerable power in the market, aiming to attract players of Declan Rice’s quality once again.
That being said, the only downside to this trajectory and spending is the gap that is being created between Arsenal’s first team and the Hale End academy.
22-year-old Bukayo Saka is arguably the last player to make the step up, demonstrating how long it’s been.
And perhaps with that in mind Lino Sousa decided it was time to leave Arsenal in January, heading to Aston Villa.
The 19-year-old had a strong reputation in North London, but decided his future was better spent elsewhere.
And almost immediately after leaving for Villa, Sousa joined Plymouth Argyle on loan for the remainder of the season.
Lino Sousa now explains decision to leave Arsenal in January
Since joining Plymouth, Sousa has been speaking to Plymouth Live, and explained his decision to leave Arsenal among other things.
Arsenal fans were perplexed when the news suddenly broke towards the end of January, and perhaps are still left wondering why.
But Sousa has now provided some clarity.
He said: “I wanted to get out and play first team football, whether that was at Arsenal or elsewhere, and I felt as if Villa provided me the right platform and the right plan to go ahead and do that, so that’s why I made that conscious decision to leave.”
“When I signed for Villa, I signed papers for Argyle as well. Everything happened so quickly. I came down the same day and then I met the manager the next day and was in for training.”
Of course, it’s hard to argue with the merits of Sousa’s move from that perspective.
Perhaps Arsenal had also planned to loan the youngster soon, but first team football didn’t seem too close.
It will certainly be interesting to see how Sousa gets on at Plymouth, a defender who possesses the rare ability to seamlessly invert into midfield.
And with Sousa now saying his piece, it would be fascinating to hear the perspective of Arsenal’s decision-makers on the choice to allow the youngster to leave in January.
That being said, Kieran Tierney has now been speaking about the circumstances that led to his Arsenal exit.
