Southampton boss, Selles insists Aribo has been unlucky

Southampton boss Ruben Selles says Joe Aribo has been unlucky in team selection.

The Nigerian has not not featured for Southampton since the FA Cup fifth round defeat to Grimsby Town at the very beginning of March and was also not listed in the 4-1 loss to Manchester City at the Saint Mary’s stadium on Saturday
.
‘We have been talking about the players that are not in the squad now for two months,’ Selles admitted. ‘I mean, I have a lot of players and they are
working really well.

‘But unfortunately, I can only pick 20 in the squad and I can only play 11. So, if instead of having 30 players we have 20 to 23, we will not have this
question.

‘Joe Aribo is a good player and he is working well as much as the other ones,” Selles added.

‘And when the time comes, if I decide that they he can come into the pitch, they he do it and he will be ready for it because he is a great boy and
he is working really hard to get himself back into the team.’

Aribo has missed the club’s last eight games in the Premier League and has played only 11 minutes of football since he featured for 24 minutes in the loss to Nothingham Forest in January 2023.