'Aribo played a new role' - Rangers boss highlights versatility of Super Eagles star

Rangers coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst highlighted the versatility of Joe Aribo after his side's impressive 3-0 win over Red Star Belgrade in the Europa League on Thursday night.

Against the Serbian opponents, the Nigeria international was moved into the attack to support Colombian star Alfredo Morelos, while Glen Kamara played in a more advanced midfield position as a number 10.

Aribo's preferred position is the box-to-box role in midfielder as he has offensive and defensive attributes but he is equally effective either as a right or left winger and can also play as an inverted forward.

The Nigeria star has mostly been used as an attacking midfielder and defensive midfielder since Van Bronckhorst took over the managerial reins from Steven Gerrard in November 2021.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Van Bronckhorst said : "Kamara played a different role, Joe played a different role today and I think before I came he also played in that role so I knew he was capable of doing that.

"The midfield was key today because we had to change sometimes our defensive shape..."

Having picked up a booking in the first half, Aribo was substituted with fifteen minutes of normal time remaining.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : rangers.co.uk