defoe made only eight appearances for bournemouth in the 2018–19 season, and joined scottish premiership club rangers on 6 january 2019 on an 18-month loan, with two recall clauses inserted into the deal, which can be activated in july 2019 and january 2020. on 23 january, he scored a debut goal for rangers against kilmarnock, which meant he had scored a debut goal for 5 of his last 7 clubs. after scoring in a game on 27 september 2019 he was involved in a car accident.