Aston Villa have confirmed that Lino Sousa has joined Bristol Rovers on loan for the upcoming campaign.
The 19-year-old arrived from Arsenal in January, and was sent out on loan to Plymouth Argyle for the second half of the season.
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As per the club’s official statement, he’ll now spend this year with Bristol Rovers, as he continues to gain valuable playing time and experience, while continuing to develop his game.
With the likes of Ian Maatsen, Lucas Digne and Alex Moreno ahead of him in the pecking order in the senior squad, it looked highly unlikely that Sousa would get any playing time at Villa this season, regardless of whether or not we’re trying to compete on four different fronts.
In turn, rather than continuing to play at youth level, this will be an important step up from that for him, as he tests himself at a higher level and continues to improve and make progress in his development.
Villa evidently saw something that they liked in him given our decision to sign him in January, and it appears as though he’ll be a long-term work-in-progress, with the view of potentially breaking into Unai Emery’s plans further down the line.
That said, we’ve also seen the club adopt a sensible, albeit rather enforced, strategy of selling top prospects to make a profit on them and help balance our books, with the likes of Omari Kellyman and Tim Iroegbunam the latest to depart earlier this summer.
That could end up being the plan with Sousa too given the wealth of options that Emery has in that left-back position, and so time will tell which path the talented youngster goes down.
For now though, it’s a sensible move for all concerned, as he’ll hopefully enjoy a productive loan spell and return a better player from the experience next summer.
Sousa is the latest young talent to depart on loan, with Filip Marschall, Kaine Kesler-Hayden and Lewis Dobbin all moving on temporarily too.