Rangers have enjoyed a fine start to the season and after making an immediate impact, Joe Aribo would have been frustrated at the ankle injury that curtailed his playing time.
He is now back and firing on all cylinders and with a double against Hamilton at the weekend, the Nigerian international looks to be back to his best and speaking to Football Insider, Noel Whelan has been equally impressed and claims that it would now take a sizeable fee if anyone was to try to tempt the 24-year old away from Ibrox.
When asked about Aribo’s return to the first-team and form this season, he said:
“When you are a successful team, which Rangers very much are right now, your players are going to catch the eye of other teams and that is very much the case with Joe Aribo.
“This is a team that is performing in Europe as well as domestically.
“If they keep going the way that they are you are going to be talking in the £20million bracket to force players like Aribo away from Rangers.
“They are a massive club, in Europe and could be in the Champions League next year – there is not many better than this club. Rangers are a huge, huge club.
“The likes of Joe Aribo will be looked at but that is just what happens at a successful club. They will put a price tag on, that’s for sure.”
The thing with Aribo is that he has all the hallmarks of a modern midfielder, against Hamilton he did everything, he created chances for others, he got up and supported the attack and scored his two goals – taking his league tally to four in seven appearances – but he was also instrumental out of possession.
He has an uncanny knack of being able to win the ball when it looks as though the opportunity is lost, perfectly demonstrated in the way he gained possession in his own half before releasing Calvin Bassey in the lead up to Brandon Barker’s goal, he just doesn’t waste the ball – as one Twitter user observed “Joe Aribo looks after the ball as if it was his newborn child”.
When you see some of the prices being paid for English Championship players, £20million for an established Nigeria international, who has consistently performed in European football, is a bargain, and he is destined for the top, even Lee Bowyer has finally admitted that moving to Ibrox might have been the best decision after all.