Rangers midfielder Joe Aribo has expressed his delight at being called up to the Nigeria team to face samba superstars Brazil in a glamour friendly next month.
The midfielder was part of an “experimental” Nigeria squad last month but his debut goal impressed boss Gernot Rohr that much he’s now considered an “important member of the team” [Daily Record].
Aribo himself has been talking about just how delighted he is at the prospect of lining up against the likes of £200m Brazillian superstar Neymar.
https://twitter.com/SSE_NGA/status/1171498860838973443
“It was very good news to be called up to the Nigeria squad again and I’m happy I was able to do enough in the last game to earn a recall,” said Aribo [the Herald].
“Games don’t come much bigger than Brazil and we know they’ve got a lot of stars like Neymar, of course. That’s the type of opponents I want to be playing against and it would be good to swap a jersey with one of those superstars.
“I’ll see so many stars and I’ll take a moment to realise that’s what I’ve been dreaming of. Everyone in my generation loved players like Ronaldinho and he played with some of the players in this team now so it’s like ‘wow’.
“It was just good to be out there. I knew a few of the lads like Ola Aina and Alex Iwobi and they all welcomed me and made me feel at home so it wasn’t too hard to settle in.”
Aribo has been impressing at Ibrox since joining the club from Charlton in the summer.
The midfielder also responded to the comments by Lee Bowyer that he’d made a mistake moving to Ibrox by saying the progress he has made in his career “shows” since signing up with Gerrard’s side [Rangers].
The midfielder is excited about the prospect of playing for Nigeria and representing both his parents despite growing up in England.
For Aribo, picking the Super Eagles over the Three Lions was a “no-brainer” [Evening Times].
Nigeria are set to play Brazil in Singapore on the 13th of October.
