Kyle Lafferty: Northern Ireland striker joins Premiership champions Linfield until end of season

Much-travelled NI striker Kyle Lafferty has joined Irish Premiership champions Linfield until the end of the season.

Fermanagh man Lafferty was released on transfer deadline day last week by Scottish Premiership club Kilmarnock.

"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," the Blues manager told the club website.

"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."

The club careers of Lafferty and Healy also included them playing together for Rangers in the 2011-12 season.

Lafferty becomes the second current Northern Ireland international to join an Irish Premiership club in five weeks following Niall McGinn's move to Glentoran on 3 January.

Linfield, under Healy, have won the last four Irish Premiership titles and they sit third in this year's tight race for the Gibson Cup, four points behind leaders Cliftonville.

Following Lafferty's departure from Kilmarnock, manager Derek McInnes said the decision had been "sprung" on him by the club's board.

"All I can say is, it wasn't something that I wanted to happen," said McInnes.

Lafferty, who has scored 20 goals in 89 Northern Ireland appearances, had returned to action for Kilmarnock last month following a 10-game ban because of a sectarian comment he made while on international duty.

After his 10-game suspension, Lafferty, who helped Kilmarnock earn promotion back to the Scottish Premiership last season, returned for the League Cup semi-final defeat by Celtic but then did not start the club's two next league games before being released.

Following his ban, Lafferty committed to working with an anti-sectarian charity.

The 35-year-old - who returned to Rugby Park for a second spell a year ago - scored three goals in 17 games this season.

The Enniskillen-born striker joined Burnley as a 17-year-old in 2005 and his career has included two stints at Rangers and spells at Norwich, Hearts and Sunderland in addition to numerous overseas moves which included playing in Switzerland, Italy, Turkey, Norway and Cyprus.

After having played for Palermo in the 2013-14 season, Lafferty was back in Italy at the start of the 2020-21 campaign when he signed for Reggina but then moved to Kilmarnock early in 2021 before returning for a second spell with the Rugby Park club following a brief spell with Cypriot club Anorthosis Famagusta.

Analysis

Mark Sterling, BBC Sport NI

Kyle Lafferty joining Linfield is an eye-catching signing, despite it having been openly discussed for some time.

Few players in Northern Ireland football have generated more headlines over the last 15 years than the 35-year-old former Rangers striker, so the ever-rising profile of the Irish Premiership is in for an undoubted additional boost.

Many will no doubt see the signing as a gamble for the Blues but boss David Healy, who knows Lafferty well from their time as international team-mates, clearly feels that bringing in a player who is a free agent is a risk worth taking.

The nomadic nature of his club career over recent years has led to questions around the impact he can make, while most Northern Ireland fans will be aware that he has not scored an international goal since November 2016.

That said, he was still being selected for his country until the most recent squad in September, while his two most recent cameos at Kilmarnock did deliver some important goals. And, whisper it quietly, but Blues fans might take heart from the impact Niall McGinn, himself a 35-year-old NI international, has made since joining Glentoran last month.

Linfield are four points off the top of the table with 12 league matches to play. Leaders Cliftonville are coming to Windsor Park on Saturday. Lafferty to score the winner? He couldn't, could he?