Ex-European Golden Shoe winner reveals Aribo's possible destination if he leaves Rangers

Former European Golden Shoe winner Kevin Phillips has insisted that Joe Aribo would only swap Scottish champions Glasgow Rangers for an English Premier League club.

Considered by many, even manager Gernot Rohr, as Nigeria's top playmaker at the moment, Aribo was linked with a switch to Galatasaray but a deal is not on the cards with the Istanbul side priced out of a move for the former Charlton Athletic star.

The 24-year-old was reportedly on the radar of Manchester City and Arsenal prior to transferring to the Light Blues in the summer of 2019 but nothing came out of it.

Last season, Aribo helped Rangers win the Scottish Premiership, hitting seven goals and four assists in 30 games and also caught the eye in the Europa League.

Aribo's Nigerian agent, Emeka Obasi has close links with Premier League clubs having brokered the deal that took Alex Iwobi to Everton and he also looks after Arsenal's Folarin Balogun, Liverpool's Sheyi Ojo and Tottenham Hotspur's Tobi Omole.

Quizzed if Aribo would push to leave Rangers, Phillips told Football Insider : "Why would he leave? Unless he gets the chance to go and play in the Premier League, that's the next step for players at clubs like Rangers and Celtic, we've seen that over the years.

"But why would he leave when he knows he's playing European football next year and is going to be challenging for the title? They've got those huge games to look forward to.

"I don't see why he would want to leave what's going on up there. Something is being built there that's exciting, and he's got a world-class player as his manager who is making big strides."

Aribo, who has two more years left on his contract with Rangers, withdrew from the Nigeria squad ahead of their friendlies against Cameroon in Austria early this month.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel