Jermain Defoe has disclosed it was his persuasive phone call that proved a game-changer in Joe Aribo's decision to join Rangers.

Arriving on an 18-month loan from Bournemouth back in January 2019, the ex-Premier League ace made quite the entrance at Govan, notching eight goals in just 20 appearances for Steven Gerrard's squad.

In the subsequent summer window, Rangers emerged victorious in securing the services of promising midfielder Aribo after his contract with Charlton ended, despite the now Nigeria and Southampton maestro having received other tempting proposals within the UK and across Europe.

And although Gerrard had put forth a substantial pitch to allure Aribo to Glasgow, Defoe is adamant that his own chat with Aribo was truly pivotal.

Aribo continued to shine, bagging seven goals in the Premiership in his next season as Rangers celebrated their 55th league championship, derailing Celtic’s aim for 10 consecutive titles, reports the Daily Record.

In an Open Goal interview enquiring about players who stood out during his time at Rangers, Defoe responded: "Joe Aribo."

There were so many players who impressed me, Tav as well." I remember speaking to Stevie (Gerrard) and he said: 'J, we need this Joe Aribo' so I said 'let me phone him.'"There were so many players who impressed me, Tav as well." I phoned him and said 'trust me, I'm telling you (that) you need to come to Rangers'. And he signed."

Defoe, who has previously disclosed to Record Sport that Conor Coady is interested in joining Rangers, was left highly impressed by Glen Kamara at Ibrox after the midfielder signed from Dundee shortly after Defoe's own arrival from Bournemouth.

"Glen Kamara was at Dundee but I knew he was at Arsenal when he was younger," he commented. "In the first training session I shook hands with this kid and thought 'f****** h***, that was a tight grip'."

Once the training kicked off, he was taken aback by Kamara's skill. "But when the training started he took the ball on the back foot and had these hips."

He expressed his admiration, saying: "I then said to the gaffer "who is this kid? where has he been?

No disrespect to Dundee and that but from what I saw in that training session, me, Tav (James Tavernier) and Connor (Goldson) were like 'wow, he is a player'.

"There were so many players who impressed me, Tav as well."

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