Rangers’ bid for Lafferty is dismissed by Hearts

£200,000 offer falls short of valuation

Hearts have turned down a £200,000 bid from Rangers for Kyle Lafferty, the Edinburgh club’s top scorer last season.

The former Ibrox striker is in the final year of his Hearts deal but it is understood the offer was nowhere near the Tynecastle side’s valuation of a player who contributed 19 goals over the course of the campaign.

Hearts manager Craig Levein has been braced for bids for the experienced Northern Ireland international all summer but he is not looking to sell the 30-yearold, who joined the club a year ago from Norwich City.

A major bid might tempt Hearts following last year’s expensive redevelopment of the Tynecastle main stand, but the club are less likely to do business with a Ladbrokes Premiership rival and there was little to consider in Rangers’ offer.

The two clubs were involved in a transfer wrangle at this time last year when Rangers had a series of bids for Jamie Walker rejected before a potential deal finally collapsed on the final day of the summer transfer window. Hearts went on to sell the attacking midfielder to Wigan Athletic 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 former Burnley player also played for Palermo, helping them win the Italian Serie B title in 2013-14 before moving to Norwich. He struggled to establish himself as a first team regular at Carrow Road and had loan spells at Turkish Super Lig side Caykur Rizespor and Birmingham City.

In June 2017 he moved to Hearts where he has enjoyed his time on and off the park, crediting the club with helping him fight a gambling problem.

He was an effective presence in a difficult season for the Tynecastle side, scoring important goals, most notably in wins over Celtic and Hibernian. He also scored a free-kick in the home defeat against Rangers at Murrayfield. Meanwhile, Lafferty’s fitness will be assessed ahead of tomorrow’s Betfred Cup tie against Inverness Caledonian Thistle. The striker was forced off with a back injury during the midweek 5-0 win over Cowdenbeath.

Hearts need to beat John Robertson’s side to leapfrog Inverness at the top of Group C and be sure of reaching the last 16 of the competition.

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

STEVEN MACLEAN, PULL-OUT