The unlikely dream team that saw ‘out of control’ Lafferty outscore Dybala and Belotti

With Paulo Dybala linked with a move to Manchester United, it’s important to remember the player who taught him all he knows. Take a bow, Kyle Lafferty.

Granted, that might be a bit of a stretch, but the duo played alongside each other at Palermo, joined by Italy international Andrea Belotti in attack, firing the club to promotion to Serie A in 2014.

The three of them were managed by former AC Milan madman Gennaro Gattuso and scored a combined 26 goals, helped by ex-Hull striker Abel Hernandez who bagged a further 14.

Lafferty’s spell in Italy was short-lived, however, and he was sold after just one season despite their promotion, failing to get his opportunity in the top-flight.

You may be thinking that he was let go because he wasn’t good. Nope.

In actual fact, he outscored both Dybala, currently looking for a new club after leaving Juventus and linked with United where Cristiano Ronaldo wants out, and Torino striker Belotti, bagging 12 goals in Sicily.

The problem, in the end, was that he actually scored too much – off the pitch, that is. Apparently.

Palermo’s owner, Maurizio Zamparini, said in 2014: “He is an out-of-control womanizer, an Irishman without rules.

“He is someone who disappears for a week and goes on the hunt for women in Milan.”

In reality, though, Lafferty is a happily married man, who welcomed a daughter into the world in 2020.

But what can you do when the owner has a problem with you? There will only be one winner and, despite winning the Fans Player of the Season, he ‘had to go’, according to Zamparini, who sold him to Norwich in 2014.

Dybala and Belotti, meanwhile, remained in Italy.

The former has won five Serie A title with Juventus and starred for Argentina – something Lafferty predicted when he said he can ‘take over’ from international teammate Lionel Messi.

Belotti, now 28, has played for Torino in Serie A since 2015 and won Euro 2020 with Italy.

Both players have been linked with big-money moves away from Italy, with some of the biggest clubs in the world reportedly touting their services.

And if Dybala, 28, does end up making the move to Old Trafford, let’s hope he makes the short trip north of the border to see his old pal Lafferty, 34, and currently plying his trade at Kilmarnock.