Can Southampton signing Joe Aribo reignite his career at St Mary’s?

WHEN Saints secured the signature of Europa League final-scorer Joe Aribo, there was a sense of knowing to expect the unexpected from him.

The 26 year old took on half the Villarreal team and scored a sublime solo goal in pre-season and followed that up by rounding Leeds United’s Illan Meslier in his second Premier League game.

Aribo scored a second by October and played some role in each of the first 19 league fixtures – yet, in the second half of the campaign, we saw him just three times. That was not expected.

The Nigerian international does not really have one crystal clear role on the football pitch and that probably has been counting against him.

Less than 12 months on from his move from Rangers, the former Charlton Athletic man is linked with interest from Turkish Super Lig side Besiktas and his Saints future is up in the air.

Both Ralph Hasenhuttl and Nathan Jones experimented unsuccessfully with Aribo in a holding midfield role, while he has also played all across the frontline.

As a result of the role he has been deployed in, Aribo ranks in the top six per cent of wingers/forwards for tackles made per 90 minutes, top 20 per cent for interceptions, top 16 per cent for clearances and top one per cent for aerial duels won.

There have been suggestions from supporters that this stalling could be down to his relaxed nature, following an interview he gave during the season where he claimed he was not concerned by his lack of game time.

“I’m not really too fussed or too fazed because it’s all processes, it’s growing pains. I just need to be patient and just wait on God’s timing – which is perfect,” he said.

Aribo is a calm and unassuming individual but reflective and open during media interviews and is one of the few players to initiate a greeting when you pass him at the training ground or stadium.

“It’s funny because I’ve always felt like the younger player, the shyer player, but now I’ve got to come into my own and step up,” he told us during pre-season.

Standing at six feet tall but with dancing feet, Aribo is a not-often-found build that mixes sleight with strength.

One of the things that counted for him signing for a team floating between 12th and the bottom of the Premier League table was that he is a moments player rather than a consistent force within matches.

To survive in the Premier League, you only need a few players to produce a few magic moments of their own per season to win crucial points in key games and boost the percentages in your favour.

It looked as though Aribo might have been one of those players but by the end of the year, he ranked in wingers/forwards of the Premier League’s bottom three per cent for shots per 90, bottom 13 per cent for passes attempted and bottom six per cent for progressive carries.

Looking at Aribo’s activity heatmap throughout his whole career, it shows how his versatility has seen managers move him all over the shop – for Nigeria he primarily plays as a nine alongside Victor Osimhen – but there is a clear preference to hang in the wide third.

In his final season at Rangers, which drew him interest from the Premier League, the heatmap is an even clearer indication of that preference and shows similarities to Russell Martin’s Swansea players.

In the new Saints manager’s philosophy, there is space for two wide players to float from the touchline to the middle third – Ollie Cooper and Luke Cundle did that.

While Aribo was not as effective as needed in the Premier League, in his final season in League One with Charlton – 2018-19 – he scored 10 goals in 39 games, with four in a row at the end of the campaign including one in the playoffs as they won promotion.

There is a player in there at the Football League level and what happens next for Aribo will probably come down to determination and ambition than football ability.