New Bristol Rovers signing Lino Sousa has said that he feels his move to the Gas “is a really good platform” to showcase his talents after joining on a season-long loan from Aston Villa.
The 19-year-old left-back has become Rovers’ 14th signing of a hectic summer transfer window and is their fourth loanee alongside Josh Griffiths, Michael Forbes and Jake Garrett.
Having come through the youth system at West Bromwich Albion before spending two years at Arsenal, Sousa joined Aston Villa in the winter transfer window before immediately going out on loan to Plymouth Argyle for the second half of last season where he made eight appearances in the Championship.
Speaking to club media, the latest Gas arrival said: “I’m excited to be here. I feel like this is a really good platform to showcase myself and help the club achieve its aims for the season. I’m just grateful to the manager and the coaching staff for giving me this opportunity.
“The conversations with the manager and his team have been really good, really healthy and ambitious. You can really see that by the number of signings that have been made.
“Of course, it’s exciting to be a part of a young and talented squad. To see driven players, I can’t wait to meet them; I’ve heard good things about them.
“You can see this is a very hard-working team. I’m happy to be here and I want to get experience and games under my belt, bring goal contributions and assists, help the club to achieve our aims this season.”
Born in Lisbon, Sousa moved to England aged eight and brings serious pedigree to Rovers, having represented the Three Lions at various youth age groups as well as impressing for Arsenal’s under-18s and under-21s before moving to Villa earlier this year. While with the Gunners, the teenager was included in a Premier League matchday squad to face Brentford in September 2022 and had numerous experiences training with the first-team.
Bristol Live understands that Championship sides including Watford and QPR were interested in taking the young defender on loan this season but the Gas have evidently offered the most attractive proposal.
It is currently unclear whether Sousa will be involved in the squad to face Rotherham United on Saturday afternoon but the left-back will add strength in depth to the left-hand side of defence with Bryant Bilongo and Clinton Mola Rovers’ other options there. The former started the Gas’ 1-0 win over Northampton Town in their League One opener last weekend while Mola has mainly played as the left-side centre-back of a back-three but played back in his natural left-back position in Tuesday night’s 2-0 Carabao Cup defeat at Cardiff City.
Additionally, Rovers have signed Micah Anthony after a successful trial period with the former QPR youth player predominantly a winger but demonstrated his capability of playing as a wing-back during pre-season.
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