Aston Villa have reportedly reached an agreement with Arsenal to secure the signing of young left-back Lino Sousa.
The 19-year-old has made 36 appearances at U21s level for the Gunners and has been capped at U19s level for England, having initially started his career at West Bromwich Albion’s Academy.
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It appears as though he’s caught the eye of Villa’s scouting and recruitment staff, as according to Fabrizio Romano, we have agreed a deal to sign Sousa in a permanent switch, and he’ll undergo his medical on Wednesday.
He adds that we faced competition from elsewhere to land his signature, but ultimately we’re set to add a top talent to our youth team, with the hope that he can continue to improve and develop in order to break into the senior squad at some stage.
Time will tell when, or if, Unai Emery feels as though he’s ready for that step up, but ultimately he could add more depth at left-back behind Alex Moreno and Lucas Digne in the long-term, although it remains to be seen if it ultimately means we perhaps move on the latter given he has been paired with an exit in the past.
It’s certainly an area of our squad that could be improved with additional depth though, particularly as we continue to compete on multiple fronts and with both Moreno and Digne being sidelined by injury at some stage this season, we have been short at times.
Looking at the broader picture, Villa have shown a clear strategy this month of targeting talented young players with real potential, having already confirmed the signing of Kosta Nedeljkovic from Red Star Belgrade, while Morgan Rogers is expected to arrive from Middlesbrough on deadline day.
Coupled with this touted move for Sousa, Emery and the management team are hopefully adding promising solutions with big futures ahead of them, while also being mindful of our spending as we try to kick on in the second half of this campaign and set ourselves up for bigger targets in the future.