Steven Gerrard has revealed why Kyle Lafferty's contract at Rangers was terminated, openly saying that the striker simply 'didn't do enough' to stay at Ibrox this season.
The 31-year-old struggled for game time last season, with Alfredo Morelos, Jermain Defoe, Daniel Candeias and Ryan Kent all favoured ahead of him in Gerrard's starting line-up.
Lafferty only made 20 appearances for Rangers in the SPL last term, with just five of those coming from the start.
He featured mostly off the bench, coming on in the latter stages of matches for Morelos which made it abundantly clear that his future lied away from the Gers.
"Kyle is a good player, but showing it in glimpses for Rangers isn't enough. That's the brutal truth," said Gerrard, speaking to the Scottish Sun.
"He's a good character to have around but if I had kept hold of him from a selfish point of view then he would have struggled for game-time.
"He's still young enough and he still has the drive and hunger to be a success at whatever he decides to do," added the former Liverpool captain.
Lafferty is now a free agent and will be looking to join a new club before the season kicks off in just over a week's time.
With such little time until the new campaign begins it's difficult to see where the Northern Ireland international will end up this summer, though with plenty of experience in the locker, he would definitely be a shrewd signing for a side competing in the lower reaches of the English Football League.
Rangers are in Europa League action this evening when they face Luxembourg's Progrès at Ibrox.
Gerrard's men then host Derby County on Sunday in their final pre-season friendly, before travelling to Kilmarnock for their SPL curtain raiser at Rugby Park on 4 August.
There is fresh optimism among Gers supporters that this season will finally be the one where their side overthrow rivals Celtic from their perch at the top of the Scottish top-flight - a belief which will be put firmly to the test on 1 September when the two sides meet at Ibrox.
