Journalist Jonny McFarlane admits he could see Rangers ace Joe Aribo leaving the club this summer.
The Rangers Review writer was speaking on the site’s YouTube channel amid speculation surrounding the 25-year-old.
Aribo is heading into the final year of his Ibrox contract and insider The 4th Official recently revealed that the Nigeria international has a release clause of £10m.
The same source stated that Fulham, Crystal Palace and an unnamed Bundesliga club were interested in prising the attacker away from Glasgow.
However, the Daily Record has since claimed that Southampton are leading the race to sign the Light Blues ace.
McFarlane has welcomed the reports, having previously gone on record to say that selling their best players is part of the business model, and with Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos also entering the final 12 months of their deals, he believes Aribo is seemingly the one closest to the exit.
He said: “I’ve always been led to believe that Crystal Palace is the most likely destination for Joe Aribo.
“If Southampton come in and make it a bidding war for his services, all the better for Rangers’ point of view. It’s one of those whereby the more teams that come in, the better it is for the club, and the closer you get to, I think, the £10m that he’d be likely to go for.
“If you’re asking me about who’s the player most likely to leave in the Rangers squad at the moment for big money, I’d say it’s Joe Aribo. So it’ll be very, very interesting to see in the next week or so how that progresses.”
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Chiefs at Ibrox may well be tempted to cash in this summer despite Aribo’s influential role during their run to the Europa League final last season.
With both Alfredo Morelos and Kemar Roofe injured, the 20-cap Nigeria ace filled in through the middle and scored in the final.
He is likened to Raphinha, Dejan Kulusevski, Marco Reus and Lucas Moura by data analytics site FBRef and that is quite esteemed company to be holding – and perhaps Aribo will be looking to take the next step in his career.
While he is unlikely to move to a club as big as Rangers, he does seem destined to play at a higher level.