Hearts are not making it easy for Scottish Premiership rivals Rangers to bring Kyle Lafferty back to Ibrox.
If Rangers wanted to bring back Kyle Lafferty already, the prospect of re-signing the Northern Ireland striker should be more tempting than ever after his stunning winner against Celtic on Saturday.
On the downside, however, that well-taken goal in Hearts’ 1-0 win against the reigning Scottish Premiership champions just reinforced how important he is at Tynecastle, and justified their hard-line stance over his future.
According to the Express, Hearts have already rejected a £200,000 offer from Rangers for Lafferty, making it clear that they will not let him go for anything less than £750,000.
And Rangers’ attempts to sweeten the deal look to have failed, too. The Express reports that Rangers have offered 31-year-old Lee Wallace as part of the deal that would see Lafferty return to Ibrox, but Hearts have no interest in a swap.
It is reported that the Edinburgh side have no need for a left-back and Wallace, who played for Hearts between 2004 and 2011 before his move to Glasgow, is on wages that would be beyond his former club’s budget. So it seems that Rangers have little option but to put forward all the money Hearts want for their talismanic forward.
The 30-year-old represented Rangers from 2008 to 2012 and scored 19 goals in all competitions last season, the most prolific campaign of his career.
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