Arsenal have completed the signing of 16-year-old Lino Da Cruz Sousa, football.london understands.
The left back, who is of Brazilian heritage, played two years above his age group for West Brom Under-18's last season and has been earmarked as a potential star of the future by those within London Colney.
Sousa will turn 17 later this month and has already trained with his new teammates.
According to West Brom's official website, Sousa is a widely versatile left back who has caught the attention of several Premier League sides due to his fantastic dribbling ability and close control.
The youngster was called up for an England training camp in March 2020 and he's gone on to represent the Young Lions at under-15 and 16 level.
In addition to featuring in a higher age group for West Brom, the left back started a Premier League 2 match against Newcastle in February 2021.
"Lino’s an athletic full-back, reads the game well, has a lovely left foot and it's not often a 16-year-old plays an entire season with the 18s, but that’s credit to him because he has so much potential," said West Brom under-18's coach Peter Gilbert.
Academy chief Per Mertesacker had earmarked the left back position as one particular area where the Gunners need to strengthen at academy level.
Meanwhile, Arsenal have made available several academy players for loan in January.
Tim Akinola, Zak Swanson, James Olayinka and Ryan Alebiosu are among the players set for the next stage of their development, with Folarin Balogun putting the finishing touches to his Middlesbrough loan move on Monday afternoon.
