Aston Villa have now agreed to sign Arsenal full-back Lino Souza on a permanent deal.
It’s been a slow transfer window for the majority of clubs across the board as fears of breaching PSR have taken a huge toll on the amount of business being done.
As for Aston Villa, their movement in the market has only been ramped up in recent days with their plans finally being pieced together.
Unai Emery’s primary target Morgan Rogers is now close to joining the club after a fee with Middlesbrough was agreed upon at the fourth attempt.
The Spaniard is also said to be closing in on highly-rated Adelaide United goalkeeper Joe Gauci to rival Emiliano Martinez in between the sticks.
After already securing the signing of right-back Kosta Nedeljkovic from Red Star Belgrade, Villa are now close to acquiring Arsenal full-back Lino Sousa.
Fabrizio Romano says Aston Villa agree deal for Lino Sousa
The focus for Emery in this window has been simple; sign youngsters with high potential who he can develop into quality talents.
Rogers, Nedeljkovic and Gauci all fit into that bracket as players who are aged 23 or under and Souza is the next player to join that group.
That is according to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, who claims that Aston Villa have agreed to sign the 19-year-old attacking full-back from Arsenal.
He reports that Villa have beaten off interest from the likes of Galatasaray, Rangers and Juventus to join Emery’s project at Villa Park.
Who is Lino Sousa?
Sousa joined Arsenal from West Bromwich Albion in January 2022 and signed a professional contract at the Emirates.
The Portuguese-born youngster, who has represented England from U15 to U19 level, has previously impressed first-team staff at Arsenal, including Mikel Arteta, but hasn’t rewarded him with opportunities in the senior side.
Arsenal were without a left-back during the turn of the year as Oleksandr Zinchenko, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Jurrien Timber were all injured, but Arteta preferred to play centre-back Jakub Kiwior in that position instead.
After being hailed as “outstanding” by ex-club youth coach Kevin Betsy, Sousa is highly regarded by his peers at Emirates and was unfortunate not to have featured in the first team.
The former West Brom academy graduate is the type of modern-day full-back who likes to drive forward and impact proceedings in the final third.
Emery will see him as an understudy to Lucas Digne and Alex Moreno, however, with both of their futures up in the air, Sousa will be clamouring at the opportunity to play first-team football at Villa.
