Arsenal signing Lino Sousa is full of pride after his January move.

Sousa arrived from West Brom last month.

He told arsenal.com: "I first heard about the Arsenal move in July or August, the backend of last season, but firstly it's just interest, so you don't really think anything of it. Then things just happened and moved forward, everything became more real and it was really exciting. My family and I spent hours and hours talking about the pros and cons of a move and what was best for me, but, at the end of the day, Arsenal is Arsenal. There's a pathway there to the first team, you can see it, a lot of players have done it.

"Obviously, it's not an easy thing to do, but you've got to back yourself. It was crazy seeing how the move spread on social media. My phone was dead silent for a couple of months because I wasn't playing, nobody was tagging me, I wasn't posting anything and then out of nowhere, it just exploded, it was crazy! I had friends sending me things, my family members and people from abroad. I couldn't say a word or repost it, it wasn't scary, but it was just a bit of a shock, it became serious.

"It's a really nice feeling to see all the posts from fans, but my mum always reminds me to not get caught up in the social media buzz because your football has got to do the talking.

"Sometimes I think to myself about where I've come from to where I am now and it's crazy. To say that I'm an Arsenal player is a very surreal feeling and I take pride in that.

"It's not something I take lightly because now it's not just my family that I'm representing, I'm representing Arsenal Football Club. This is a life that I chose and I'm grateful for the opportunity to be here and I just want to take my chance, impress and do what I do best on the pitch."