Kyle Lafferty ‘wanted wages quadrupled’ say Kilmarnock

Lafferty’s exit was then announced by the club but the forward said he did not want to leave and was quoted as saying he wished “to be a part of the bid to bounce straight back to the Premiership”.

However, in a club statement, Championship side Kilmarnock say Lafferty’s agents asked for the 33-year-old’s wages to be quadrupled.

“At this point, we informed Kyle and his representatives that there was no possibility of agreeing to those terms, which would have had a monumental impact on the allocated first team budget for the season,” the club said.

“Following further discussions and both parties remaining miles apart, it was clear that no deal could be struck and in order to continue our planning for 2021-22, talks were brought to a close.”

Killie also denied a suggestion by Lafferty that players were offered contracts and given “hours” to make a decision.

The statement added: “Every player offered a contract for 2021-22 was given a period of several days in line with a deadline set by the club to decide whether they wished to accept our offer.”