Southampton Manager Hails “Top” Super Eagles’ Joe Aribo

Southampton manager, Russell Martin, has described Super Eagles midfielder, Joe Aribo, as a top player even though the player has not been playing frequently.

Joe Aribo was a top player while he was at Glasgow Rangers and was seen as an indispensable member of the team. But he wanted to play in the Premier League, a desire that made him join Southampton on July 9, 2022, for a transfer fee worth €7.10 million.

Unfortunately, the 27-year-old center-midfielder couldn’t hold his own at the club as the side struggled throughout the 2022-2023 season. At the end of the season, Southampton were relegated to the Championship, England’s second-tier league.

As he was struggling to play regularly at Southampton, he was also struggling to play regularly for the Super Eagles even though he was always invited to the national team.

During the just concluded 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Joe Aribo struggled to play regularly but ended the tournament as a silver medalist.

Coach Russell Martin said Aribo returned to Southampton from the 2023 AFCON with an experience that has also helped him to improve his game.

When he returned from the AFCON, the Nigeria international continued to struggle for game time but that has improved in recent games.

Joe Aribo was one of the most effective players in Southampton’s 2-1 win over Coventry. That performance landed him 90 minutes of football in the club’s 3-2 win over Watford on Tuesday.

On his assessment of Joe Aribo, coach Russell Martin said: “He has been excellent. He hasn’t played a huge amount of minutes since he came back from the AFCON but he has been excellent.

“It was a huge amount of minutes for him in the last few games. Joe is a top player. It took him a while when he got back because he hadn’t played for three or four weeks at AFCON. He had a brilliant tournament with some fantastic experiences, but he came back and took a while to get back up to speed.”

Note that Joe Aribo has scored 3 goals and provided 1 assist in 31 games in 33 games in all competitions so far this season. His total minutes on the pitch is 1,443 minutes.

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