Derek McInnes: Rangers losing Joe Aribo to Nigeria is major blow
Derek McInnes has insisted that Rangers losing star playmaker Joe Aribo to the African Cup of Nations will be a major blow.
The attacking star will join up with Nigeria at the start of next year, also potentially missing the next Old Firm against Celtic.
McInnes believes that Aribo is one of the most important cogs in the new system of Giovanni van Bronckhorst, so losing him will not help the new boss.
Speaking live on Sky Sports this week, McIness shared his worries for the Bears heading into the New Year.
“That’s a consequence of having a top player,” he said. “Being involved, all players want to be playing at the highest level.
“The African Cup of Nations is a great format for the likes of Aribo to go and perform, so it will be a loss for Rangers depending on how long Nigeria are in the tournament.
“I think he is an important player especially now Rangers are playing with more width, those penetrating runs centrally, getting support to the main striker – Aribo and Arfield have been pretty important in that sense.”
Huge loss.
Thankfully, there is the winter break throughout January and it looks as though Aribo won’t be missing too many games.
The Nigerian has been central to our form this season, and he has been playing some of the best football in his career.
Van Bronckhorst has told his wingers to stay wider in this new style, and that has opened up the middle of the park for the likes of Aribo to push forward and make runs in behind.
That is exactly what he did against Hearts, and thanks to the perfect ball from Connor Goldson, he brought it down and fired it home to double our lead at Tynecastle.
McInnes and everyone with any ties to Rangers recognises that Aribo will be a big blow, but hopefully, it won’t make too much difference to our form.
In other Rangers news, an official club partner has fired back at Tom English after his latest bitter jibe at the Bears