Jambos turn down £200k Rangers offer for Lafferty

Hearts are understood to have turned down a £200,000 bid from Rangers for Kyle Lafferty.

The former Ibrox striker is in the final year of his Hearts deal but it is believed the offer was nowhere near the Edinburgh club’s valuation of their top goalscorer from last season.

Hearts boss Craig Levein has been braced for bids for the Northern Ireland international but the Jambos are not looking to sell the 30-year-old, who scored 19 goals in his debut campaign.

A major bid might tempt the club after last year’s costly redevelopment of the Tynecastle main stand, but the club are less likely to do business with a Ladbrokes Premiership rival.

The two clubs were involved in a transfer wrangle at this time last year when Rangers had offers for Jamie Walker rejected before a potential deal finally collapsed on the final day of the summer transfer window. Hearts then sold the midfielder to Wigan in January.

Lafferty spent four years at Ibrox, scoring 38 goals, before leaving for Sion in June 2012 after Rangers went into liquidation, declining the chance to transfer his employment to the newco club. The ex Burnley player also featured for Palermo and Norwich before his Hearts move, where he has enjoyed his time on and off the park and credits the club with helping him fight a gambling problem.

His fitness will be assessed ahead of tomorrow’s Betfred Cup tie against Inverness. The striker suffered a back injury in the midweek win over Cowdenbeath. Hearts must beat John Robertson’s side to leapfrog Inverness at the top of Group C.

Arnaud Djoum, Don Cowie and Harry Cochrane will miss the game but will return to training next week after injury.

Picture: SNS. Kyle Lafferty in action against Cove Rangers.