Joe Aribo shows Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos that all is not sweeter after Rangers exit
There seems to be a consensus that Rangers is a stepping stone for top talent to come, show off, and then leave for something bigger.
Last summer we saw Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo leave the club for a combined fee of around £30m to go to Ajax and Southampton respectively, while this season has been dominated by talk about the futures of Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos.
Both players are out of contract at Ibrox this summer and are free to speak to other clubs, with Michael Beale admitting that nobody has been formally offered new terms as of yet.
But while the belief seems to be that both players are more likely to leave Ibrox for a “bigger” club elsewhere, they should be warned that it rarely works out that way for the best players in Glasgow.
Take a look at the two most recent and aforementioned cases from this season alone.
Bassey went to Ajax and was considered to be one of the best young defenders around, but is constantly battered by the press in Amsterdam and is deemed not good enough.
He was signed as a centre-back but has found himself playing at left-back regularly too, and ultimately has been considered by many to not be worth the money they paid considering the academy talent the club usually bring through.
Then you take a look down south to the Premier League and realise that Aribo went from scoring in a European cup final last season for Rangers to riding the bench for a relegation-threatened Southampton team.
Aribo hasn’t played for a single minute in the Premier League since February 11th and even that was an 11 minute cameo from the substitutes bench in a defeat.
His last start in the league came on New Years’ Eve in a defeat to Fulham, and he was named by The Sun in the ‘Biggest Flop XI’ of the season.
If you ask either player and get an honest answer about whether they’d turn back time and stick around at Ibrox, they’d likely say yes. Just like Morelos and Kent likely would if they leave this summer.
Kent has been linked with a move to the Championship leaders Burnley or Leeds, who are battling relegation from the Premier League themselves, while Morelos has been tipped to go to Galatasaray as a Plan B option or potentially relegation-threatened Sevilla in La Liga.
Neither player would be in Europe next season, unlike Rangers, and neither player would be loved by the fans the way they are at Ibrox right now.
Obviously Rangers is not the pinnacle of football when it comes to success on the continent, but we are constantly challenging for trophies and playing at the highest level.
They have been key to that but can be replaced by other players when Michael Beale knows what is happening. The feelings those players feel at Ibrox cannot be replaced anywhere else in the world.
Just something for them to think about before they make their big decision.
In other Rangers news, Richard Keys has blasted a former Gers hero for what he did last week.