Lafferty signs up for Norwegian relegation battle with Sarpsborg
Northern Ireland striker Kyle Lafferty has joined Norwegian side Sarpsborg 08.
The former Rangers and Hearts forward had been keen to return to Tynecastle after leaving Ibrox for a second time last month and held talks with other Scottish clubs, including Kilmarnock.
But the 31-year-old has opted to join the club sitting at the bottom of the Norwegian top flight.
Sarpsborg sporting director Thomas Berntsen told their official website: “In Kyle Lafferty we get a player with close to 500 games at a good level. He has 70 caps and 20 goals for Northern Ireland.
“Lafferty is a right-footed tough guy who puts his head on the line in both boxes. A real warrior we hope to enjoy this season.
“There will be some yellow cards, but also many goals. We think this will be very good.”
Lafferty added: “I’m here to help save the club’s place in the Eliteserien and I’m really looking forward to it.”
Sarpsborg 08 are a relatively new team. As their name suggests, they were founded in 2008 from a merger of existing sides in the city which is situated in the south west of Norway, 88 kilometres from Olso.
In the 2010 season they won promotion to the Tippeligaen, the Norwegian top flight, but they were relegated after a single campaign. They won promotion again in 2012 and have been making steady progress ever since. They have twice reached the Norwegian Cup final, losing on both occasions, and in 2017 they were third in thetopflight,theirhighestever finish. That meant Sarpsborg qualified for Europe for the first time and they reached the group stage of the Europa League last season.