Sunderland fan blog: How ex-Rangers striker Kyle Lafferty can fire Black Cats to promotion

Five years ago, Kyle Lafferty helped fire Northern Ireland to a first ever appearance at the European Championships.
Kyle Lafferty.Kyle Lafferty.
Kyle Lafferty.

By scoring seven goals in nine appearances, he was Northern Ireland's most stand-out player and was the fifth top-scorer in the qualifying process.

Now, he has been recruited by Sunderland, as their first signing of the transfer window. But, what impact will Lafferty have?

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An easy link between Lafferty and Sunderland is that both Lafferty and Will Grigg have been Northern Ireland teammates a number of times, so maybe this could re-open the door for Grigg to return to the team.

Despite a loan move being on the cards, Parkinson may want to combine Grigg with Lafferty, as it has already shown that both can feed off each other. But, what does this mean for Charlie Wyke?

In December, goals were something we were lacking, but it seems in the past few weeks, that Sunderland are being more clinical in attack.

Our goal tally may increase with the addition of Lafferty; he is proven to score goals at higher levels than League One.

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For Norwich, he scored four times in 13 appearances, but was out for 51 days with a knee injury. In a one month spell for Birmingham in 2016, he netted once in four starts.

One notable gap in the Sunderland side is the lack of experience in the team.

Lafferty may bring more experience to the table, having played in the Europa League for Rangers and featuring in Euro 2016 for Northern Ireland.

With Lafferty being not far away from match fitness, hopefully he can be the push the Black Cats need to achieve promotion.

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