Joe Aribo has reflected on the past season for club and country, including some comments on his disappointment with how things panned out at Ibrox.
The dynamic attacker was building up a serious head of steam toward the end of 2021 putting in some excellent performances for Rangers then following the turn of the year, the game changer was the January international break with Nigeria failing to navigate the final World Cup qualifiers. The player was open on the effect this had on him, telling Nigerian radio station Brila FM:
“It was difficult for me to take. I came back to my club but it was with me for some time, but I just had to say to myself that God has a plan, it wasn’t to be for some reason, but we can’t question God; God knows the best.”
In what has been a marathon season for the London born 25-year old, he will likely make his 68th appearance in total across the 21-22 season, in the game against Ecuador in the early hours of Friday.
Aribo reflected on the ups and downs of the past year at Ibrox, including that slump after the Qatar disappointment:
“Firstly, I’ll say it’s a long one. I played a lot of games. But on a serious note, it was a good season. I got a lot of numbers like stat wise, like say I wanted to get a bit more, especially from where I was from the start of the season compared to how many I got in the second half of the season, but a little bit disappointed because we couldn’t win the Europa League.”
Future
Having moved to Glasgow in 2019, following the switch from Charlton, Joe Aribo is now moving toward his fourth season at Rangers but there will be interest from elsewhere. There will be a question mark on his future, despite recent contract renewals for the likes of Goldson and Davis. There will be more to come but with the player trading model and a need to bring in revenue, a couple of sales will be expected. That could involve Aribo.
No-one is in a hurry to see players of his quality leave, but it is not realistic to expect all players to stay for an extended period, running down contracts in the process. The Goldson situation was an outlier in terms of its outcome.
With the quotes above, Joe Aribo made no comment on his next steps, but more will follow on that over the coming weeks.
The Ranger and his Super Eagles teammates face Ecuador in a friendly in New Jersey, USA ahead of Africa Cup of Nations qualifying games, at home to Sierra Leone then away to Mauritius.