A huge story over the summer for Rangers was the will he, won’t he Rangers return saga of Mikey Moore. Naturally, Rangers fans loved the on loan Spurs winger. He registered a number of goals and assists during a thriving loan spell from London. His Ibrox career was adored by himself, the fans and the manager. He was a popular player and Rangers supporters were desperate to regain him.

Of course, the problem was the price. At a quoted £25M, it was something outwith Rangers’ reach. There was potentially a question of another loan. However, Ibrox Noise understood that this was not happening.

Roberto De Zerbi had the summer to run the rule over the youngster. However, he wanted Moore to ply his trade and learn more at a higher level than the Scottish Premiership.

That said, the pressure at Rangers barely has any peer in world football, save a number of key elite clubs. Consequently, Moore learned about pressure, but he hadn’t played at the highest level. De Zerbi therefore favoured playing at a higher level to develop him further.

Moore’s Difficult Start in Germany

As time has turned out, his new loan at FC Köln has not gone swimmingly. There is talk in the German press about how disastrously his time in the Bundesliga is going. He has no assists, no goals and just a bit part role.

There is therefore obvious clickbait discussion about a Mikey Moore Rangers return. This comes from the usual sites that love to seize upon content like this to create stories.

The reality is that Mikey Moore was pretty poor at Rangers too, up until winter. He took a heck of a long time to settle and was honestly close to borderline disastrous in Govan. At the time, fans couldn’t understand what on earth the hype was about, given how poorly he was performing.

It wasn’t until the return to Rangers of having a good left back in Belgium’s Tuur Rommens that Mikey Moore started to thrive a bit more. He linked up with the left back, interchanged positions and both found a good relationship on the left side.

It ended up securing Moore Scotland’s Young Player of the Year award. During that second half of the season, he was very impressive. We would definitely stop short of saying outstanding, but he was impressive.

Mikey Moore Never Promised Rangers a Return

However, we always knew he wasn’t coming back in the summer, even though he spoke extremely highly of the club. At no point did Mikey Moore say that he wanted to return and rejoin Rangers. He simply said he loved his time and would miss the club.

He made other comments once he arrived back at Spurs. These were very much along the lines of being thrilled to return and wanting to fight for a first team place. Tottenham was where he wanted to be. He had never said that about Rangers.

Players say what they need to at clubs in order to further themselves. Their own careers are, of course, their priority. So Rangers fans shouldn’t be too bothered by the things he did or didn’t say.

But the talk that he could return to Rangers based on bad performances in Cologne is nothing more than clickbait nonsense.

Rangers Still Have a Moore Problem on the Left

Now, the problem we have, or the dichotomy, is that Rangers really do lack quality on the left side. We have Badredine Bouanani, Djeidi Gassama, Daisuke Yokota and Minsu Kim. All of them are effectively right sided players. They are right wingers.

Of course, all can adapt and play on the left. But Rangers are fundamentally filled with right wingers. The loss of Moore left quite a big hole. Rangers haven’t technically replaced him on that side.

Consequently, there is a vacancy for Moore to return to Rangers, if anyone at all was interested in the prospect.

Moore himself probably isn’t. Derek McInnes probably isn’t. And Tottenham Hotspur, who hold all the aces here, definitely aren’t.

The only interest here would be Rangers fans sentimentally wanting him back. And, of course, the clickbait sites creating stories around it.

Mikey Moore Must Prove Himself at Köln not Rangers

The reality is that Moore will be determined to succeed at Cologne. He’s had a bad start and will hope to improve. But he’ll need to develop a relationship with whoever plays at left back. That understanding could help him improve his game.

He is still a young lad, let’s not forget.

We wish him the best in Germany. Rangers fans hope he steps up and starts to become the player he has the potential to be.

We just don’t think he’s necessarily as great a player as some Rangers fans believe. That opinion seems based on a few matches in the SPFL and his Europa League performances.

He isn’t breathtaking. He’s a very good player, but he’s definitely not worthy of the hype that some fans would like to believe.

Nevertheless, we wish him well.