The Nigeria international is in his maiden season in the world’s most glamorous league, having joined the Saints in the summer
Super Eagles midfielder Joe Ayodele Aribo is one of the most aggressive players in the English Premier League, five months into the 2022/2023 season.
Joe Aribo fulfilled a childhood dream of playing in the Premier League when he signed for Southampton from Glasgow Rangers in a deal worth over seven million euros. That transfer deal for Aribo is one of the most expensive involving Nigerian players in the year 2022.
Aribo has featured in all of Southampton’s fifteen Premier League matches, with ten appearances in the starting eleven. In 948 minutes of action, the 26-year-old star has managed two league goals and received one yellow card.
Aribo’s creativity, physicality, and aggressiveness have added more stability and bite to the Southampton attack.
Interestingly, it has emerged that Aribo is one of the most aggressive players in the English top flight when his team is out of possession.
According to renowned statistics company, Squawka, Joe Aribo ranks in an impressive fourth position on the chart of Premier League players with the most possession won in the final third.
Only Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne (20), Leeds United’s Jack Harrison (19), and Brighton & Hove Albion’s Leandro Trossard (18) are ranked better than the Nigerian playmaker (17).
Aribo has won the ball back from the opposition in the danger areas more times than Arsenal’s Martin Ødegaard (16), Chelsea’s Mason Mount (14), and Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes (14).
Despite Aribo’s input, Southampton have struggled and fumbled during the first half of the campaign.
Before the Qatar 2022 World Cup break, the Saints recorded only three wins and three draws in 15 league matches. And with only 12 points amassed so far, Southampton sit just above bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers on the EPL table.
The Premier League returns on Boxing Day, and Joe Aribo will hope to be involved when the Saints host Brighton & Hove Albion by 4 pm.