Lino Sousa's Arsenal exit explained as Mikel Arteta faces more ...

Lino Sousa has agreed on a permanent move to Aston Villa, football.london understands. Arsenal are going through a process with many of their youth players which is expected to see more leave.

The Evening Standard has reported that Bradley Ibrahim is set to join Hertha Berlin on a permanent move this winter too. The amount Arsenal will receive remains undisclosed for the time being but it has again raised the question of Mikel Arteta’s treatment or consideration for his youth stars to the forefront.

Thankfully it comes at a time when form has been recovered and Arsenal go into their clash with Liverpool at the weekend off the back of two victories. However, that means that the outstanding criticisms that exist perhaps get brought more into the minds of supporters such as this very issue.

We discussed previously at football.londonthe myth that Mikel Arteta categorically does not give youth a chance and revealed that the seven competitive debuts handed to academy players not only disprove this but go a long way to show what chances can be given. The reality is for a player like Sousa that there are plenty of senior players ahead of him in the queue at left-back.

Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jakub Kiwior, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Jurrien Timber are all ahead and last season Kieran Tierney was of course still with the club. How do you give a player like Sousa a chance when there are so many other players who need minutes to be ready if and when they are called upon?

Ibrahim the same. Arteta has arguably the best collection of defensive midfielders in the continent with Thomas Partey, Declan Rice and Jorginho - Mohamed Elneny is another option when available. Such a crucial position it is, throwing Ibrahim into any game would be a gamble for the player and the team.

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It is worth noting the rise of Myles Lewis-Skelly has pushed out Ibrahim from a future at senior level. It makes sense to seek opportunities abroad with the hope of an easier pathway to a first-team opportunity.

These players have developed for as much and even more than a decade at the club in some cases and a ten-minute disaster cameo can have a detrimental effect on their development. Arteta has favoured using the kids with senior players in pre and mid-season friendlies when the chance has arisen.

This is not the Arsenal of the previous decade from 2011 to 2020, it is not a team fighting for the top four as a priority. The pressure is on Mikel Arteta to deliver on all fronts and that makes it harder to give young starlets a chance in the first team.

Arteta can be better and the games against RC Lens at home and Wolves at the end of last season were the perfect times to give the kids the chance. He didn’t and these will stand as fair criticisms against him.

However, where the argument falls is the expectation surrounding Arsenal and we cannot have it both ways. After last season, the expectation is for Arsenal to challenge for the title again despite the admittance of overachievement in the previous campaign.

At 2-0 up in last night’s match against Nottingham Forest, Reuell Walters was on the bench and at no time was it justifiable to bring him on in that environment. The game had a nervier end than it needed for starters.

With the context of Arsenal at the moment, throwing in the kids and giving debuts is arguably a luxury Mikel Arteta believes he cannot afford to take. That comes with its own risks as Sousa’s exit appears to demonstrate but with the likes of Ethan Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly committing to the club and several Hale End graduates in the first-team squad already it is fair to say we are not doing too badly anyway.