Photo: Arteta calls up wonderkid who’s ‘among the best in the country’ to Arsenal training pre-Chelsea

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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has been putting his players through their paces ahead of Sunday’s Premier League trip to Chelsea.

Both the Gunners and the Blues head into the game on the back of victories in European competition.

Arsenal ran out 1-0 winners over FC Zurich in the Europa League, while Chelsea beat Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 in the Champions League.

On Saturday, the Gunners media team shared photos from their latest training session at London Colney.

And Arsenal academy star Lino Sousa was pictured a number of times.

‘Jordi Alba 2.0’ within Arsenal ranks?

Arsenal signed Sousa back in January, bringing him to Hale End from West Bromwich Albion.

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

Indeed, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has promoted Sousa to first-team training on quite a few occasions.

After travelling to Germany in pre-season, the teenager kept his place in Mehmet Ali’s Under-21s team, following Betsy’s departure to Crawley.

He has seven Premier League 2 appearances this term, as well as two EFL Trophy outings.

Arteta also named Sousa in his matchday squad for the Premier League meeting with Brentford in September.

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.