Arsenal promote 17-year-old wonderkid Lino Sousa to first-team ahead of Europa League clash with FC Zurich

ARSENAL have promoted Lino Sousa to their first-team squad ahead of their Europa League clash with FC Zurich.

The 17-year-old, who is part Brazilian, trained with Mikel Arteta’s senior squad earlier today.

Getty

And now The Athletic claims that he will travel to Switzerland for tomorrow’s match.

The left-back moved to Arsenal from West Brom in January and has made an instant impression at youth level.

He broke straight into Kevin Betsy’s U23 side and then travelled to Germany with them in pre-season under new coach Mehmet Ali after Betsy left for Crawley Town.

The ace has continued to make a big impact this term with the Gunners and Ali has already sung the teen’s praises.

He said: “We always look at the players’ attributes, what they’re really good at and try to make their strengths super-strengths to help them stand out.

“Lino is a player that is very comfortable on the ball and because of that we sometimes give him licence to come inside the pitch to get the ball to feet and then try and serve (the ball in) effective and dangerous areas.

“Also we want to show his ability to get forward and sometimes go on the outside to get crosses into the box.

“But most importantly, Lino needs to remember what his job is as a defender, which is stopping crosses, protecting the far post and winning his defensive duels.”

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE BETTING OFFER – GET £50 BACK AS CASH

Arsenal head to Zurich looking to bounce back from their first defeat of the season.

They still sit top of the Premier League after winning their opening five matches.

But they lost their 100 per cent record when they were beaten 3-1 at Manchester United on Sunday.