In January 2010 he drew interest from Scottish Premier League's Celtic,[11] but the deal never materialised due to undisclosed reasons believed to involve work permit issues.

[15] After performing well in a friendly against PSV Eindhoven and later being described as one of the best players in the match by the team's coach,[16] he was quickly offered a contract, pending a valid work permit from the Royal Dutch Football Association.

[18] Subsequently, he went on trial with PSV, scoring twice in a 2–0 win against their reserves in a practice match – the first team's coach, Fred Rutten, said: "Ibrahim is fast, technically skilled, physically strong and has a good sense of field position, there is something in that boy";[19] on 11 March 2011, he agreed to a deal at the Eredivisie side.

[21] On 18 January 2012, Celtic announced that, after a successful trial period, they had agreed terms to sign Rabiu on a three-and-a-half-year deal, pending a work permit application which was granted five days later.

[23] Rabiu made his debut on 3 May 2012, coming on as a 74th-minute substitute in a 1–0 home victory over St Johnstone: his cross gave Gary Hooper the chance to score, but he was offside.

[31] Before the tournament, he had been dubbed "the new Jay-Jay Okocha",[32][33] and helped the side win that year's Africa U-17 Cup of Nations held in Togo, scoring twice against Eritrea in the group stage (8–0).

[12] In the following years, Rabiu continued to be closely watched by the Nigerian senior coaches, with Samson Siasia claiming in the media in April 2010 that he was one of only two players who could solve the country's attacking midfield problems.