There has been a narrative out there for several weeks that Steven Gerrard’s signed Joe Aribo from under the nose of Celtic as the midfielder opted to sign a contract with the Ibrox club after his Charlton deal expired.
There was rumours over a month ago Celtic were interested in the player but the rumours appear to be his agent contacting the Scottish Champions and Rangers to see if they would be interested in his free agent to try and get the best deal for Joe. This is commonplace in football and Celtic are inundated with agents letting them know who is available.
From a Celtic point a view, there was nothing in it at all, Lee Congerton likely the man who put Joe’s name on a list of possible targets but when the Ibrox club showed interest the narrative was falsely set that Celtic had been trumped by the borrowers across the city. It was simply never the case and today Joe Aribo confirmed as much.
“I wasn’t aware of that but my agent might know a bit more about that.” he told Football Scotland.
“There were a few others but once I had spoken to the gaffer I knew this is where I wanted to go.
So we have a guy that turned down Celtic for Ibrox without knowing he had an offer to turn down for Celtic. Usual nonsense.
Normally I would agree, however Lennon, the players agent and Charlton all confirmed a late bid. So a wee bit embarrassing to debunk it. Best to leave the dust settle and get on with it, rather than highlight it.
There was no ‘late bid’…There was nothing to bid for, he was a free agent. Celtic never made him an offer, the player states he never had an offer from Celtic in front of his eyes. Hope this clears things up.