Loanee continues to light up Ibrox - and manager wants to keep him
Rangers head coach Danny Rohl doubled down on his desire to keep teenage sensation Mikey Moore at the club beyond this season after the Tottenham loanee shone once more in a 4-1 win over Aberdeen.
Moore was among the goalscorers as Rangers kept the gap between them and Premiership leaders Hearts to three points. The 18-year-old has been one of the best players under Rohl since he took over in October and Rohl reiterated that the Ibrox side will do all they can to either broker another loan deal with Spurs or find a permanent arrangement.
The English Premiership side are currently managerless and fighting relegation, but Moore appears happy at Rangers and has become a darling of the Ibrox faithful.
Mikey Moore scored in Rangers' 4-1 win over Aberdeen.placeholder image
Mikey Moore scored in Rangers' 4-1 win over Aberdeen. | SNS Group
“Me as well!” Rohl exclaimed when it was put to him that the supporters would want Moore to stay beyond this summer. “There's no question mark. But I think you can be convinced we started this week to prepare for the summer, I think we are in a good position, we are very clear what we want.
I think it's also helpful now that we have the idea of how I want to play football, committed with a fantastic owner, with the good people around me, everything goes in the right direction. We work hard, we have again a good summer that we prepare for next season, but let's finish this season strong and successful.”
Asked if conversations with Moore and Spurs had started, Rohl continued: “I think conversations are always there, but we know when Mikey performed like this, you can see Mikey enjoys playing for Rangers. The fans love him, I like him, he's a key player. I think there's a lot of good things where we could go again together, but we know he's still not our player, let's work in the next couple of weeks in all those directions. But the most important thing is that we bring good results in the next seven games.”
Other Rangers players step up to plate
Rohl was at pains to point out Rangers’ resurgence is not all down to Moore. With seven matches to go, Rangers can move above Hearts for at least a day should they win their next match against Dundee United on April 4.
“When I arrived, I think there were a lot of noises, the squad is not good enough to win games, and when I see at the moment how we improved, and it goes last week, we can speak about this and this, but we won, and if we continue like this, then the squad will be in the next four weeks again better.
“This is great, this is what we need, and for this you need the competition in every position. This is a big, big opportunity advantage for our group at the moment, that we have so many players available.”
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Rohl tried to downplay the significance of going top - even provisionally - for a team that started the season so poorly. “The importance is that we play for three points,” he said of the Dundee United match. “For me it's not so important to be in the next couple of matchdays ahead, for me it's important that we have something to celebrate on the final matchday, and for this we have to be very focused on our own. It doesn't matter what they are doing, if we win the seven games we will win the league.”
Dundee United play Celtic on Sunday lunchtime in the last match of the weekend. Asked if Rohl would be watching, the German suggested he would follow a tradition from last weekend when Hearts lost 1-0 at Kilmarnock. “I think the last time, last week I turned off my phone, doing the other games,” he added. “For one result it helps, maybe I'll do the same tomorrow.”