Few storylines in Scottish football’s transfer market this summer carry as much weight — or as much uncertainty — as the question of where Mikey Moore will play his football next season. Rangers want him back. The player himself has shown genuine affection for Ibrox. But a fresh twist involving one of European football’s most prestigious academies means this is no longer a straightforward reunion story.
Moore’s connection with Rangers started as a fairly routine loan agreement in August last year, when the then-17-year-old winger joined the Ibrox club from Tottenham Hotspur on a season-long deal under then-manager Russell Martin. At the time, Moore was already a highly regarded academy graduate, having broken into Tottenham’s first team as a teenager and set club youngest-appearance records along the way. Even so, nobody could have predicted quite how transformative his season in Glasgow would turn out to be.
The early months were tougher than expected. Moore’s form took time to click in a new country, a new league, and a physically demanding style of football very different from what he’d experienced in England’s academy system. Everything changed with the arrival of Danny Röhl as head coach. Under Röhl, Moore became a fixture in the side, eventually stringing together seven consecutive Premiership starts and turning himself into one of the most talked-about young wingers in the country.
By the time the season wrapped up, the numbers told their own story: 47 appearances across all competitions and 11 direct goal involvements, a return that earned him both the PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year award and Rangers’ own internal Young Player of the Year prize. He scored in an Old Firm derby against Celtic, contributed to a title race that went down to the final day, and signed off his loan spell with an assist in a 5-2 win over Falkirk — a match in which he was serenaded off the pitch by travelling fans chanting for him to stay another year.
Röhl himself became one of the most vocal advocates for a Moore return, saying publicly and repeatedly across the spring that Rangers needed to stay “on the front foot” in pursuing a second loan. He made clear he wanted Moore back in time for pre-season rather than negotiating a mid-window arrival, framing the player as central to getting Rangers off to a strong start under his management.
The complication is that Röhl is no longer at the club. Derek McInnes has since been appointed as Rangers’ new head coach, arriving on the back of an impressive spell in charge of Hearts. While reporting suggests the club’s overall enthusiasm for re-signing Moore hasn’t diminished under the new regime, a managerial change inevitably introduces uncertainty — McInnes will have his own ideas about how he wants his attack to function, and there’s no guarantee he sees Moore’s profile fitting into his plans in exactly the way Röhl did.
The player’s own position has shifted over the course of the year, which adds another layer of intrigue. Back in the spring, Moore indicated he wanted to return to Tottenham and fight for a first-team place in North London, rather than commit to a second season away from the club that developed him. That stance seemed to close the door on an immediate Ibrox reunion.
Since then, the picture has moved again. With Tottenham now under new manager Roberto De Zerbi, and De Zerbi reportedly telling Moore he has no clear pathway into the first-team picture this season, the calculus has shifted back toward a loan being the most likely outcome. Moore has also spoken warmly about his time in Scotland, previously admitting he would “love” to stay at Rangers for a second season — sentiment that, while not a guarantee of anything, suggests a return wouldn’t be against his wishes if Tottenham do confirm they’re sending him out again.
The real threat to Rangers’ hopes has emerged only in the past few days. The Athletic has reported that Borussia Dortmund — a club with a well-established history of developing young talents like Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham — have entered the race for Moore’s signature this summer. That interest changes the shape of the negotiation entirely. Where Rangers could once offer Moore a familiar environment and a fanbase that adored him, Dortmund can offer Champions League football, Bundesliga quality, and a different developmental step that clubs like Tottenham tend to value highly when assessing where to send a promising academy player for a second loan spell.
Reports elsewhere have added further names to the mix, with Köln and PSV Eindhoven also credited with interest, the latter reportedly keen to build a purchase option into any loan agreement. Domestically, there has even been speculation linking Moore to a loan at West Ham as part of a separate deal involving Mateus Fernandes’ move to Spurs.
Everything now points toward Tottenham’s return to pre-season training, scheduled for Friday, 10 July, as the moment clarity finally arrives. De Zerbi has made clear he wants to assess Moore in training before any final call is made on his short-term future, even if the broader signals suggest a second loan is close to a formality. What remains genuinely open is the destination.
Rangers retain a real emotional case — a manager, fanbase, and dressing room Moore already knows, and a proven platform on which he thrived. But sentiment rarely wins transfer battles against Champions League football, and Dortmund’s late entry into the race means Ibrox chiefs may simply be unable to compete with what continental rivals can offer a player whose stock has risen dramatically since he first arrived in Glasgow as a raw, uncertain teenager just under a year ago.
