Aston Villa have agreed a deal with Arsenal to sign youth left-back Lino Sousa, according to a report.

Fabrizio Romano reports that Premier League side Aston Villa have secured a permanent deal to sign Lino Sousa from Arsenal, with an agreement now in place between the two clubs.

Sousa is set to complete a medical in the coming hours to finalise the transfer.

Romano adds that Rangers, Galatasaray, and Juventus were all keen on Sousa, but the player is set to join Villa instead.

Arsenal signed Sousa from West Bromwich Albion just two years ago, but the defender has been an integral part of the academy since then.

Initially starting out with the u18s, Sousa quickly progressed through to the u21s, and he made over 50 appearances for the academy in his two years at the club.

Sousa was regularly selected for first-team training, though he only made the senior squad on a couple of occasions, and never managed his debut.

Sousa’s most recent appearance in a Mikel Arteta squad was earlier this month, when he made the bench against Liverpool.

The problem for Sousa has been that his game perhaps isn’t a perfect fit for the inverted left-back role that Arteta employs.

As a result, the defender hasn’t been able to break into the squad even in light of injuries and other absences for Takehiro Tomiyasu and Oleksandr Zinchenko, with Jakub Kiwior preferred instead.

You could understand if Sousa didn’t see a clear pathway to first-team football, and perhaps he thinks he has a better shot at Villa, with two 30-year-old left-backs currently on the books at the club.