Kyle Lafferty played just 14 minutes in a Capital One Cup match and still managed to score against West Bromwich. He has enough quality to be in the starting eleven every week. Instead, he has appeared in only one Premier League match, for just 13 minutes.
The Northern Ireland international knows how to win titles. He was a Scottish Premiership champion three times with Rangers and also won the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup twice.
But Lafferty made his biggest impression on the big stage, helping Northern Ireland qualify for UEFA Euro 2016. The striker scored seven goals in nine games for his country. Thanks to his efforts, Northern Ireland won their group and will play at a major tournament for the first time since the 1986 World Cup. It will be Norn Iron's first European Championship.
With 16 goals in 46 appearances, Kyle Lafferty is the second-highest scorer in Northern Ireland's history. He deserves at least a chance to prove his goal-scoring ability at Norwich City. It is understandable that he turned down a loan move in the January transfer window, since a move to a lower-division club would have been a step backwards.
This is not a case of blind loyalty to Lafferty; it is about a player being underestimated. Mbokani's quality remains open to question despite his statistics. Football is not only about scoring goals but about making an impact on the pitch and winning games, and by that measure Lafferty has been doing a great job while being deliberately overlooked by the manager. It is possible, of course, that Neil and Lafferty have fallen out, and that this is why the striker is not playing.
It would be a welcome sight if Lafferty showed his full potential at Euro 2016 and helped Northern Ireland achieve good results. For now, the message to him is simple: do not give up, because he is better than half of the strikers in the Premier League.
How Lafferty reached Norwich
Lafferty began his career at Burnley, making his debut in August 2005, before his years at Rangers. He arrived at Carrow Road from Palermo, signing a three-year contract on 27 June 2014. In his only season in Sicily he scored 11 goals in 34 matches and helped Palermo win Serie B and promotion to Serie A as champions. His rival for a place, Dieumerci Mbokani, joined Norwich at the end of August 2015 on a season-long loan from Dynamo Kyiv, with an option to buy, having scored 19 goals in 46 matches for the Ukrainian club. Alex Neil said at the time that the squad had needed strengthening up front.
How the season ended
Lafferty did eventually leave on loan. On 24 March 2016 he joined Birmingham City in the Championship until the end of the season, making six league appearances and scoring once, against Brighton & Hove Albion on 5 April. Norwich's fears were realised: they finished 19th in the 2015–16 Premier League with 34 points and were relegated alongside Newcastle United and Aston Villa. Neil was sacked on 10 March 2017, with Norwich eighth in the Championship.
Northern Ireland's first European Championship began with a 1-0 defeat by Poland in Nice. They then beat Ukraine 2-0 in Lyon, with Gareth McAuley heading in an Oliver Norwood free kick and Niall McGinn adding a late second, their first win at a major tournament in 34 years. A 1-0 loss to Germany at the Parc des Princes, in which Michael McGovern made a string of saves, was still enough to go through as one of the best third-placed teams. In the round of 16, also in Paris, a McAuley own goal in the 75th minute gave Wales a 1-0 win. Lafferty later played for Hearts and returned to Rangers in 2018.
Questions people ask
How many goals did Kyle Lafferty score in Euro 2016 qualifying?
Lafferty scored seven goals for Northern Ireland in qualifying, the most in the squad. He scored in each of the first three qualifiers.
Where did Lafferty play before joining Norwich City?
He came from Palermo, where he scored 11 goals in 34 matches as the club won Serie B in 2013–14. Earlier he had played for Burnley and Rangers.
Were Norwich City relegated in 2016?
Yes. Norwich finished 19th in the 2015–16 Premier League with 34 points and went down with Newcastle United and Aston Villa.
How did Northern Ireland do at Euro 2016?
They beat Ukraine 2-0 and lost to Poland and Germany, reaching the round of 16 as one of the best third-placed teams. Wales then beat them 1-0 through a Gareth McAuley own goal.