The Northern Ireland international moved to Switzerland from Rangers last year but only managed to score five goals for Sion.

However, he did manage to build a successful relationship with former Italian international Gennaro Gattuso, who has since become the new manager of Palermo.

"We have sealed a deal for Lafferty," announced Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini on Radio Radio.

"He is someone who can lead the attack by himself, similar to Luca Toni. In Switzerland he hasn't scored many goals, so we hope he can get them here.

"For the moment we are keeping the same skeleton of the side as last year, plus a few important additions. The system will depend on the players, but we're thinking of a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-4-2.

"In attack we have players like Paulo Dybala and Abel Hernandez, plus a few more who will arrive."

Lafferty is still a key part of the Northern Ireland side and has represented them in four out of five of their FIFA World Cup qualifying matches for the Brazil 2014 tournament.