Rangers fans call for Aribo’s return after falling out of favour with Southampton new manager

Rangers fans are calling for Joe Aribo to return to the club after the Nigerian striker was left out of Southampton’s EFL Cup semifinal first-leg game against Newcastle on Tuesday.

Substitutes Alexander Isak linked up with Joelinton who stabbed home from close range in the 73rd minute to hand Newcastle a 1-0 win at St. Mary’s Stadium in the EFL Cup game first-leg tie.

Surprisingly for the fourth time in a row, Joe Aribo was not in action, and he has failed to play a game out of Southampton’s last four games.

Joe Aribo was an unused sub in their games against Manchester City, Everton, and Aston Villa, and today in a cup game against Newcastle, he was not even on the bench.

Southampton won two out of the four games he has not played in including the famous 2-0 cup win against Manchester City last week.

Joe Aribo’s lack of game time has prompted Ranger fans to make the call to the management to bring back the Nigerian midfielder.

Here are a few of the tweets from the fans calling for Joe Aribo’s return.

Via @DIGB__
“Very strange to see both Aribo and Bassey coming under criticism or being bang out of favour at their new clubs.
“Their respective clubs have two absolutely superb players that done the business for us.
“A return to Ibrox for either player in the future would be fantastic to see”

@chrisbett
“Joe Aribo not in the Southampton squad.
“This is a one-time offer Ross Wilson. Make the call. Bring him home. I’ll drop my pish against you.
“One-time. Your call.”

Joe Aribo’s return could be a possibility, considering he has not featured much under the new manager, Nathan Jones who told the Daily Echo that the Nigerian midfielder has been a victim of tactics.

“We’ve got a lot of midfield players, a lot of people,” Jones told Benjy Nurick of the Daily Echo.

“So we’re just trying to find a balance in there where we get the best out of everyone. Joe has been been a little bit of a victim but he’s played well. He came into the game against Crystal Palace the other day and had an impact.

“We’ve had a few out, we’ve had a few people come back in, we’ve had a lot of games, we’ve played James Ward-Prowse in an advanced position and he scored goals so that’s kind of Joe’s position.

“So he’s been a victim of a few things really but look, we like Joe and Joe trains hard. He’s a great character in terms of everything. So it takes time, you know, and as I said, we’re in the thick of it now in terms of games so I’m sure Joe will contribute.”

Since making his £10 million switch from Ibrox to St Mary’s in the summer, Joe Aribo has scored 2 league goals in 18 league games.

Time for Joe Aribo to return to Rangers or stay and grind it out?