As news of a potential deal for Antonio Colak accelerates, so to dos speculation surrounding Joe Aribo’s future as a Rangers player, the Nigerian international still on holiday after a record breaking season in which he was a constant presence for club and country.
Several Premier League clubs are said to be interested, however, initial hopes that this might bump up his transfer fee have been downplayed by The 4th Official who, as revealed on their Patreon site, has broken news of a a release clause in the 25-year old’s contract.
“Joe Aribo, on the other hand, is likely to leave. I did a story 3 days back talking about how serious the Crystal Palace interest is in the Nigerian.
“Unfortunately, there will be no bidding war. Two very reliable sources informed me that Aribo has a £10million release clause.
“At this moment, the Crystal Palace interest is very real as mentioned in my previous column on Aribo. Another team interested are Fulham as well as a team from Bundesliga. Rangers are bracing for a move in the upcoming weeks.”
It’s pretty safe to assume, especially at that sort of fee, that Aribo will be lucky to make it back for pre-season training, you get the feeling that whoever moves first will be getting a very good player on their hands and one who still has room to develop.
This story contradicts the one claiming that Steven Gerrard was interested because, if he was, surely he would know about this clause and act before it became common knowledge, £10m for a Premier League side is loose change for a player, especially one that counts as home grown with international experience.
Given that he arrived for just £350,000, we stand to make a serious profit on Aribo and one that will hopefully see Giovanni van Bronckhorst handed a few more pounds to spend in a transfer that seems to be a matter of “when” rather than “if”.