Rangers’ and Northern Ireland’s Kyle Lafferty will be blocked from featuring against Hamilton Accies this weekend.
The Gers will take the trip to the Hope CBD Stadium as they look to get their away form back on track. It’s going to be another tough slog, and Rangers are going to have to win the battle.
Lafferty has infuriated Northern Ireland bosses over the last week by refusing to turn up for international duty. The big striker claimed this was down to an achilles injury, but Michael O’Neill remains infuriated at the late nature of the call.
The Northern Irish are now so angry that they want to halt him playing against Accies. FIFA have a five-day rule that allows international sides to block their players from featuring for their clubs within five days of an international break ending.
Northern Ireland suffered back-to-back defeats against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Austria. Therefore, their chances of now winning their Nations League group are now over.
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A big blow
Sunday remains the kind of game you want Lafferty in your side for. The big striker would be an aerial threat and could be relied on to be a presence. Rangers look like they’re going to be robbed of that.
This will leave Alfredo Morelos as the only viable striking option this weekend. With Umar Sadiq still nowhere near the first-team, there is nowhere near enough depth in Rangers’ striking options.
You also can’t help but feel that Northern Ireland have taken this a little too far. Whether there’s been previous misdemeanors or not, it looks petty and bitter from the Northern Irish FA.
Gerrard likely won’t be happy with the decision, especially if Lafferty was genuinely recovering from an injury.
Lafferty’s international future at this stage remains up in the air. The subsequent backlash and anger coming from his home nation is on a grand scale. It’s now essential that Lafferty and Northern Ireland sort this mess out.
Northern Ireland’s next set of fixtures come in November.