TheCable

Joseph Ayodele-Aribo says wearing the number 10 jersey for the Super Eagles of Nigeria is “iconic”.

In an interview with Daily Mail UK, the 24-year-old midfielder who plays for Rangers, Scottish Premiership club, said that it was surreal for him to have been entrusted with the jersey number on his debut for the Gernot Rohr’s side.

Aribo was surprisingly handed the number 10 in a friendly game against Ukraine in 2019. He scored in the match that ended 2-2.

The former Charlton Athletic player also scored on his second appearance for the Eagles in the 1-1 draw friendly with Brazil.

In the interview, Aribo spoke about his first invitation to the three-time African champions squad.

“In football, let alone Nigeria the No.10 shirt is iconic. If you’re wearing it you’ve got to be a good player so I feel like I have to be good,” he said.

“I’ll never forget my first game with the No.10. They left the spot [in the changing room] for me and I didn’t sit there because I was thinking ‘this can’t be me’.

“They said ‘no, this is you’ and when I was warming up I was thinking ‘yo, this is crazy’. The ten for Nigeria. I didn’t know how to feel. A crazy feeling.

“Getting called up was a surreal feeling and one I definitely didn’t expect, from where I’ve come from but it just showed me how far I’ve come.”

The number 10 jersey, which was worn by football legends like Pele, late Diego Maradona, and Okocha became vacant after John Obi Mikel retired at the end of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.