Former Celtics midfielder Si Ferry says the £6million fee Southampton paid for the signing of midfielder Joe Aribo from Glasgow Rangers is too low.
Ferry described it as a shock, saying he had expected the deal to cost a bit more than what the Saints ultimately paid.
Aribo moved to the Premier League club last month for an initial £6million fee. However, with add-ons taken into account, the deal could still see Rangers get £10million when all is said and done.
The 26-year-old, who joined the Gers for a nominal £300,000 fee in 2019, had just a year remaining on his deal at Ibrox.
His exit was one of two major first team departures from Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s squad this summer.
Calvin Bassey became Rangers’ record transfer sale when he joined Dutch giants Ajax in a deal that could reach around £22.5million.
Ferry reckons the decision to let Bassey leave was made easy because of the amount of money involved. Although, the deal involving Bassey’s international teammate Aribo surprised the pundit.
Ferry told Grosvenor Sport, “£20million is the most that clubs in Scotland will get for a player now. If you look at Kieran Tierney, who was exceptional in the league over the course of a couple of years, he left for £25million and so you look at Calvin Bassey who’s only really performed consistently for six months – for me £20million is a no brainer.
“Joe Aribo’s £6m fee was more of a shock for me. He can run box-to-box, he’s strong, can tackle and also scores and creates goals.
“But maybe, because he wasn’t as effective in the last three months of his Rangers career as he was in the first six months of the season, the price tag came down a little bit.
“Based on his quality alone I’d have been wanting a bit more than £6million but what Scottish clubs don’t want is players running down their contracts and going for free so if there is a hint that Aribo is looking for a move away, it’s so important that clubs do get a bit of money for them.”
Aribo failed to inspire as Southampton fell to a 4-1 away defeat to Tottenham with the Nigeria international testing the keeper once in the 73rd minute.