Is Rangers midfielder Aribo a player Everton should look at

Rangers midfielder Joe Ayodele-Aribo is apparently looking for a move to the Premier League. So, is the Nigerian a good potential option for Everton to consider?

Finding better quality and balance in midfield is arguably the most pressing issue for Everton at the moment (although there are plenty of others!) and the club have been linked with an arm’s length list of possible targets. 

Some of the latest rumours involve a potential swap deal with Andre Gomes leaving Merseyside for Italy and Juventus in exchange for Adrien Rabiot moving the other way.

That is a deal that I don’t see happening. I can’t see Juventus wanting an injury-prone Gomes, and Rabiot, despite the fact he wants to leave Juve, is very likely to want a move to a club higher up the Premier League table. In addition, his wage demands would likely be prohibitive anyway.

Rabiot is a player who has been repeatedly linked with a move to the Blues’ over the last few years and now once again he’s being touted as a possible target for the club.

The Frenchman is a very good defensive midfielder with obvious talent. But, together with lingering questions over his atttitude, one possible issue is whether he offers enough attacking contribution and goals.

This is something Everton require more of and it’s why Frank Lampard brought in Tottenham and former England star Dele Alli in January, a player best suited to a number ten-type role.

Another need the Toffees’ have is for more midfield players who possess enough athleticism and energy who can win and then carry the ball from deep and link up effectively with an attack that recently has often been too isolated and lacking support.

Abdoulaye Doucoure can do this and did so for a while, especially at the beginning of last season, but then his form dropped off alarmingly. He is also not really a genuinly creative player and his distribution is sometimes very wayward. Have we perhaps seen the best of him?

Everton also already have one Nigerian international midfielder who has the ability to do that job of ball-carrying from a deeper position in Alex Iwobi.

The former Arsenal youth product has had a very difficult time since his expensive and high-profile move to Goodison Park in summer 2018.

Iwobi was usually a very infuriating player who showed occasional flashes of ability, but far too often seemed lost, disinterested and unable to deliver as he drifted in and out of the Blues’ first-team under several different managers.

Then, during last season’s run-in as Everton battled for survival, Iwobi, now under Lampard’s guidance, seemed to have found a place in the side.

He finally started to deliver more consistent performances playing in a central midfield role rather than out wide as he had often previously been deployed. There are though always doubts about whether he will continue to deliver as he’s so often flattered to deceive.

Now, his international colleague Aribo is rumoured to be seeking a move south of the border after a stand-out campaign with Rangers in the Scottish Premiership as the club reached the Europa League final.

Aribo is an athletic, powerful and versatile mifielder or attacker who seems probably best suited to a deeper lying defensive midfield role but one who likes to get hold of the ball, carry it from midfield and link up with the attack.

Well, that ticks a lot of the boxes mentioned above.

Of course, there is the issue of whether he can reproduce the sort of influence and productivity he managed in Scotland in the much more competitive English Premier League.

However, there have been plenty of players who have successfully done just that, including Liverpool’s stars Virgil van Djik and Andrew Robertson. Everton have also recently gone north of the border and to Rangers too for talent, when they signed Nathan Patterson six months ago.

Anyway, the Nigerian might be available too for a very reasonable price of around £10 million making him much more affordable for the Blues’ than some of those other midfield possibilties, given their financial problems.