Kyle Lafferty has told Norwich City’s manager Alex Neil he is not prepared to drop out of the Premier League and believes he can replicate his Northern Ireland form at Carrow Road.
The striker scored his seventh goal in eight qualifiers on Monday, against Hungary, to keep Northern Ireland on course for their first European Championship. Lafferty’s status at international level is in stark contrast to his position at Norwich, however, where he has scored only once in 18 appearances since joining the club on a three-year contract in the summer of 2014 and has not featured at all this season due to injury.
Neil sent the 27-year-old on loan to Turkish side Caykur Rizespor last season within a month of arriving as manager but Lafferty believes he can convince the Scot of his worth in the Premier League.
The former Burnley and Rangers forward said: “Playing 75 minutes against the Faroe Islands and 95 minutes against Hungary was important for me, and the manager will see I’m probably fit enough to play 30, 40 minutes.
“I will go back and work my socks off in training and keep on knocking on the manager’s door. If he sits me down and says I’m not in his plans, then it’s time for me to make a decision whether I go out on loan or stay and work even harder.
“Every player in this world wants to play in the Premier League, you just have to look at the players playing in it. I want to play against those players. I’m not going to throw my towel in now, take the easy option and go out on loan to a Championship team, play the long-ball game.
“When I was a young boy I sat watching Match of the Day dreaming of playing there, so I’m not going to throw my towel in now and take the easy option.”
