Rangers boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst says Joe Aribo's "ambition is to play in the Premier League" and he is likely to move there "in the near future".
The Nigerian midfielder is reportedly set to seal a move to Southampton after spending three years at Ibrox.
The 25-year-old joined from Charlton Athletic in 2019, scoring 26 goals in 148 appearances - including last season's Europa League final defeat.
"What he's done for this club has been fantastic," Van Bronckhorst said.
Speaking to Sky Sports, the Ibrox manager added: "Joe is a very important player for us. His development has been really good.
"It's what you want as a club, to get talented players, develop them into really good players and eventually the player has their own ambitions."
While Aribo, who was part of Steven Gerrard's title-winning squad in 2020-21, appears to be on his way out of the club, Van Bronckhorst confirmed striker Antonio Colak is close to completing a move from Greek side PAOK.
The Croatian forward scored 19 goals on loan at Malmo last season, two of which came at Ibrox as the Swedish side knocked out Gerrard's men in Champions League qualifying.
Van Bronckhorst said the "damage" the 28-year-old inflicted on Rangers last August "shows his quality".
"We are very close with him," the Dutchman added. "We've worked hard to get him on board. Hopefully, he will join us really soon and give us some extra options up front.
"He's shown that he can score goals in the teams he's played for. He's a really good striker. We want to be successful in all the competitions we play in so we have to have the squad to be able to do that."
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