Joe Aribo could soon team up with Rangers star as Southampton look to recoup at least £6m
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Former Rangers chairman John Bennett claims that the Ibrox side's much-maligned player trading model was a 'myth'.
Rangers, in theory, are supposed to be a club which buys low, sells high and develops top young talent.
But in practice, overinflated contracts handed to English Championship level duds has cost the club massively in recent seasons with this summer finally seeing a change of tact.
The stories of Jefte, Clinton Nsiala and Hamza Igamane are still to be written at Rangers.
But one former Ibrox hero who bucked the trend in Joe Aribo could be set to team up with a current Gers star in Turkey.
Joe Aribo set to leave Southampton
Joe Aribo will go down in Rangers history and had it not been for a lapse in defensive concentration, might be regarded as a genuine club legend.
For 12 minutes in Spain, Joe Aribo had Rangers ahead in the Europa League Final and had the club dreaming of their greatest ever triumph.
It wasn't to be of course with Rangers having their hearts broken on penalties by Eintracht Frankfurt in Seville.
But the Nigerian international is one of the rare success stories of a Rangers player trading model that largely only existed in the soundbites of Ross Wilson.
Signed on a cut-price cross border fee from Charlton in the summer of 2019, much to the dismay of Lee Bowyer, Aribo had some monumental moments in a Rangers jersey.
But three years on from leaving Ibrox, the midfielder looks set to be on the move again.
Joe Aribo to team up with Rangers star in Turkey?
Going on to bank the club an initial £6m from a sale to to Southampton three years later, Rangers do have a series of add-ons which could eventually take the Aribo deal closer to £10m.
For the time being it remains unclear just how much of those add-ons the club have raked in.
Now, a report in the Daily Mail has shut down any suggestion Rangers could return for Joe Aribo with the midfielder now seemingly set to leave Premier League Southampton at the end of the season.
Instead, 'long-term admirers' Besiktas are said to be heading the queue with the Saints hoping to recoup the initial £6m they paid for the now 28-year-old midfielder.
Aribo could be set to team up with one of the players who was signed to replace him too, with Rangers midfielder Tom Lawrence also strongly linked to the Black Eagles of Istanbul.
