Ibrox club Glasgow Rangers forward Kyle Lafferty was not part of Northern Ireland during the international break.
Rangers forward Kyle Lafferty
Lafferty’s decision to pull out of Northern Ireland’s recent international matches due to an Achilles injury, as reported by BBC Sport, has been making the headlines in recent days.
The Irish FA has invoked FIFA’s five-day rule, meaning that Lafferty will not be available for Rangers’ Scottish Premiership match against Hamilton Academical away from home in the Scottish Premiership this weekend.
Former Rangers attacking midfielder Shiels, who played with Lafferty for the Northern Ireland national football team, believes that the Gers forward will be back for his country.
Shiels told The Herald about Lafferty: “I know Kyle. I grew up with him and played with him with Northern Ireland. He loves his country. I think he will return.
“Kyle will tell you himself that for a lot of years, when he was going from club to club, he played his best football for Northern Ireland. He won’t turn his back on that lightly. I hope he does come back.”
Stats
Lafferty joined Rangers from Hearts in the summer transfer window for a fee reported by The Glasgow Evening Times to be worth £500,000.
The 31-year-old former Burnley and Palermo forward has scored four goals in eight Scottish Premiership appearances for Rangers so far this season, according to Transfermarkt.com.
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