---
title: "Northern Ireland boss wants more playing time for Lafferty"
canonical: "https://readnorwich.com/2015/11/15/northern-ireland-boss-wants-playing-time-lafferty/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Alex Murray"
section: "Articles"
published: "2015-11-15T12:43:28Z"
modified: "2015-11-15T14:20:59Z"
---

# Northern Ireland boss wants more playing time for Lafferty

Michael O’Neil is hoping Kyle Lafferty can move away from Carrow Road for more first team action.

Lafferty has been a major force in O’Neil’s side, with the striker notching 7 goals as Northern Ireland qualified for their first major tournament in over 30 years.

However, Lafferty has hardly made the same impact at club level, with the 28-year-old having very little playing time under boss Alex Neil. He has failed to start a league game this term and has only seen action from the bench against Leicester and West Brom in the cup, where he scored only his second goal for the club.

![Stephen Pond/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readnorwich.com/readnorwich/2015/11/4899446701.jpg)

O’Neil [said](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11709/10066472/michael-oneill-wants-kyle-lafferty-playing-more-regularly) he noticed the lack of match sharpness in Lafferty, who only managed 54 minutes against Latvia, with a stomach bug also limiting his minutes. Lafferty has also been linked with a move to Leeds United on loan, but O’Neil denied any involvement in trying to force a move.

> I’ve had absolutely no involvement in that at all, but the most important thing for me is that Kyle gets playing.

> It’s a hard situation. It’s November now and he hasn’t started a game for his club. That’s not an easy situation to deal with.

![Stephen Pond/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readnorwich.com/readnorwich/2015/11/489703680.jpg)

> I thought he did extremely well given the circumstances. But there’s no secret and he knows it himself, to be at his best he needs to be playing.

> That applies to any player and I know that personally. There were times I played internationally when I wasn’t playing for my club and it’s a very difficult situation for a player to find themselves in.