Kyle Lafferty: Northern Ireland ace joins Linfield after shock deadline day exit
Former Rangers striker Kyle Lafferty has joined Northern Irish side Linfield until the end of the season.
The 35-year-old was released by Kilmarnock on transfer deadline day.
The move sees the journeyman link up with Linfield manger and former ‘Gers team mate David Healy, who played at Ibrox with his new signing in the 2011-2012 season.
“I’m delighted that Kyle has signed until the end of the season – he’ll strengthen the squad,” said Healy.
“He’s an out of contract player with vast experience at all levels of the game and he’s a player I know very well.”
Linfield have dominated Northern Irish football in recent years, winning the last four premiership titles.
When asked about Lafferty’s impact at the club the Linfield manager added:”I’ve no doubt that this signing will give everyone at the club a real boost and he can certainly make a significant contribution and impact over the course of the short-term contract that he has signed here.”
Lafferty was recently served a ten game suspension for sectarian language, but returned in Kilmarnock’s league cup semi-final defeat to Celtic, but then did not start the next two league games before being released.
The forward who had spells in; England, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey, Norway and Cyprus, has scored 20 goals in 89 games for Northern Ireland.
The Enniskillen-born striker played an integral part of Killie’s championship-winning side last season but has only scored three league goals this season for the struggling Ayrshire side.
There has been a current increase in transfer traffic between Scottish football and Ireland, with Niall McGinn’s move to Glentoran and St Mirren capturing Richard Taylor’s signiture from Waterford.
Linfield are four points off the top of the table with 12 games to play, with league leaders visiting Windsor Park on Saturday.
