Keith Jackson joins the Sell Aribo campaign

Keith Jackson has joined the rapidly assembled campaign to sell Joe Aribo. 

The midfielder has 12 months left on his Ibrox contract with fears growing that he could run his contract down exactly as he did three years ago at Charlton. 

Far fetched claims of interest from EPL clubs has all originated from Scotland, accompanied by ambitious claims of a bidding war and £10m plus being banked by the hard up Ibrox outfit. 

Aribo has been on the same wages since he arrived at Ibrox in 2019 while Kemar Roofe and John Lundstram have been awarded contracts worth more than £40,000 per week. Aaron Ramsey was a team-mate last season. 

Sharing his concerns about the Aribo situation, Jackson tells Daily Record readers: 

That Aribo clocked up 57 appearances for the club last term is indicative of his enormous importance to this Rangers team. 

But with the likes of Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace forming an orderly queue outside his agent’s office, it does feel as if the Nigerian international might already be on borrowed time inside Van Bronckhorst’s dressing room. 

There is some good news here, however, for the Ibrox boss even if Aribo does turn out to be Premier League bound. For starters, if three or more clubs from England’s top flight are all at the table at the same time then a bidding war is likely to ensue which means Rangers might get away with allowing him to wind his contract down to this point. 

If they can rake in a fee in excess of £10m for a player they bought for buttons then it can still be marked down as an astute piece of business and such a windfall will also give Van Bronckhorst a fighting chance of getting out of this window with his own ambitions for next season intact.

Also, it could be that he has a replacement for Aribo already inside the building in the shape of the outrageously talented teenager Alex Lowry. 

Lowry started three matches last season and made four substitute appearances. It is quite a leap for the teenager to step up and replace a mainstay under Steven Gerrard and Giovanni van Bronckhorst.