Colin Armstrong, Ross Bennett and Dougie Kinnear appeared on the latest edition of the Gersnet podcast where they discussed all of the latest Rangers news.
During the show, the panel spent some time talking about Joe Aribo, who has recently returned to action for the Gers after spending two months on the sidelines due to an ankle injury.
Aribo made his first appearance for the Glasgow-based club since suffering his injury back in August when he made a short substitute appearance during the most recent Old Firm derby. He subsequently played 23 minutes in Rangers’ recent UEFA Europa League win over Standard Liege before he played 75 minutes and scored in his side’s most recent Premiership fixture – a 2-0 win over Livingston.
The £900k-rated midfielder’s performance in that game earned him praise from teammate Jermain Defoe, who also got on the scoresheet on Sunday, and when discussing Aribo during this recent edition of the Gersnet podcast, Bennett was also full of praise for the 24-year-old and shared his delight that he has returned to fitness.
He said: “Whilst I’m absolutely delighted, of course, that we haven’t struggled in his absence, I don’t think there’s any doubt that Joe Aribo makes us a better team and he offers something that I don’t think anyone else in the squad offers.
“He just sort of has that spark or creativity that you don’t actually often see in the Scottish game. I think he is certainly one of our strongest assets and I absolutely believe that he makes us stronger.
“If Joe Aribo misses eight/nine/ten games, in the grand scheme of things and the number of games we want to play this year, it’s not a huge amount, so I think he will have a massive role for us.
“I think he’s good domestically and good in Europe, I think he doesn’t shy away from the bigger games. You could see what it meant to him to come back into the squad and get that goal, so I think it’s probably been a very, very frustrating time for him. When it comes to the points and the goals we’ve scored at the end of the day, it doesn’t seem like we’ve missed him, but I’m absolutely delighted to have him back available.”
Do you think Aribo will play a massive role for Rangers this season?
YES
NO
TIF Thoughts on what Bennett had to say about Aribo…
As can be seen in what Bennett had to say, it’s clear that he believes Aribo is a key player for Steven Gerrard’s side.
The Nigeria international has appeared in just five of Rangers’ 12 league games so far this season, but it may be fair to say that he has performed well in those games, earning an overall rating of 7.31/10 from those appearances, according to WhoScored, which makes him the Glasgow-based side’s sixth-highest-rated player for the 2020/21 campaign at present.
He is also currently Rangers’ joint-fourth-highest Premiership goalscorer despite playing in less than half of their league games so far this season.
With that in mind, we feel it is understandable why Bennett believes the 24-year-old will play “a massive role” for the Gers if he can stay fit.