Mikel Arteta calls up 18-year-old likened to Jordi Alba to training pre-West Ham

Add as preferred source on Google

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has been putting his players through their paces ahead of Thursday night’s Premier League meeting with West Ham.

The Gunners will hope to reclaim top spot in the Premier League, with Liverpool currently at the summit after winning their 19th game of the campaign.

Arsenal, who drew 1-1 at Anfield last time out, will be up against a Hammers side in confident mood after their win over Manchester United last Saturday.

David Moyes’ charges currently sit seventh in the table and will hope to make it three wins in a row in the English top flight.

On Wednesday, the Arsenal media team published photos of their players in training, and several Hale End stars featured in the session.

One of these is Lino Sousa, an 18-year-old left-back who has been making waves in the Gunners youth setup in recent years.

Sousa joined Arsenal back in January 2022, the Gunners bringing him to Hale End from West Bromwich Albion.

The talented left-footer made an immediate impact at age level for the Gunners, playing for both the Under-18s and the Under-23s.

This season, Sousa has made 14 appearances in all youth competitions, registering three goals, including two from seven Premier League 2 outings.

Arteta has promoted Sousa to Arsenal first-team training on quite a few occasions, and as per the picture, it looks as though he’s already forged a bond with some of the first-teamers.

The Sun previously described the 18-year-old talent as Jordi Alba 2.0, saying he’s ‘in the mould’ of the Barcelona legend.

Meanwhile, The Athletic reported that people at West Brom felt Sousa is ‘outstanding’ and ‘among the best in the country’ at his age level.

And Arsenal youth team expert Jeorge Bird has described Sousa as a “hugely talented left-back” who is “who is effective both defensively and in an attacking sense”.