Photo: Arteta calls up 18-year-old who’s ‘among the best in the country’ to Arsenal training pre-Villa
Arsenal find themselves with a quick turnaround in games as they head to Aston Villa in Saturday’s early Premier League kickoff.
The Gunners suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night.
It was another significant blow for Arsenal, who slipped off the top of the table at the expense of Pep Guardiola’s side.
On Saturday, they face Villa, whose last game saw them also lose 3-1 to Manchester City.
Unai Emery will hope to get one over on his former club and end the Villans’ two-game losing run.
On Friday, the Arsenal media team shared pictures of their latest training session at London Colney.
Mikel Arteta promoted several academy players to senior training on the day, including the impressive Lino Sousa.
In one photo, he can be spotted in the background laughing, with Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel also looking amused.
In another photo, Sousa is sitting on a football, looking over his shoulder.
‘Jordi Alba 2.0’ within Arsenal ranks?
Sousa has been with Arsenal for just over a year now.
The 18-year-old joined the Hale End ranks from West Bromwich Albion in January 2022.
Sousa made an immediate impact at age level for Arsenal, playing for both the Under-18s and the Under-23s.
This season, Sousa has made 12 Premier League 2 appearances, three EFL Trophy outings and two FA Youth Cup appearances.
The left-back is yet to make his Arsenal debut, but made the bench against Brentford last September.
Arteta has also promoted Sousa to first-team training on quite a few occasions.
Back in February last year, The Sun branded Sousa as Jordi Alba 2.0.
They claimed he’s ‘in the mould’ of the Barcelona defender, who was one of the best left-backs in the world during his prime.
Meanwhile, The Athletic reported that people at West Brom felt Sousa is ‘outstanding’ and ‘among the best in the country’ at his age level.
Sousa has tough competition at left-back, in the shape of Zinchenko and Kieran Tierney.
But while he may not be in line for much game time any time soon, he’s certainly learning from the best.
The next step for Sousa should be a loan move to an EFL side next season.
