Walter Smith upped the stakes in his bid to land the Clydesdale Bank Premier League title next season when he took his spending to £6million in the last week by sanctioning the recruitment of Kyle Lafferty, the Northern Ireland striker, from Burnley.

Lafferty arrived in Glasgow yesterday to have a medical after Burnley accepted a cash-plus-player deal that will see Rangers pay an initial £3million, with Alan Gow moving to Turf Moor. “We've received a very good offer, a deal worth close to £4million when you include Gow,” Owen Coyle, the Burnley manager, said.

Lafferty is the third forward acquired by Smith inside five days, after the captures of Kenny Miller from Derby County for £2million and Andrius Velicka from Viking Stavanger for £1million. The arrival of the trio places doubts over the futures of Daniel Cousin, Kris Boyd and Jean-Claude Darcheville. Cousin, who had lined up a move to Fulham last January until Fifa ruled that switch was illegal, is poised to move to England but Boyd and Darcheville are keen to stay.

Celtic had been keen on Lafferty but had a bid of £2.75million, plus Derek Riordan, rejected two weeks ago. The Ibrox club also tabled a bid for Lafferty a fortnight ago but increased that offer yesterday and added Gow, who has failed to win a first-team place since arriving from Falkirk last summer. Lafferty scored just ten goals in 56 appearances for Burnley, but has scored five times for Northern Ireland in his 16 games.

Burnley are poised to make a third bid for Andy Driver, the Heart of Midlothian winger, after the Tynecastle club rejected a £750,000 yesterday.

Celtic have been linked with Roman Pavlyuchenko, the Russia striker, who scored twice against them last season in the Champions League for Spartak Moscow, and Darren Bent, of Tottenham Hotspur. However, Gordon Strachan's main source of goals, Scott McDonald, insisted yesterday that he welcomes any new striking competition at Celtic Park.

The Australia striker was yesterday rewarded for his 31 goals last season with a new five-year contract. McDonald will be at Celtic until 2013, but when asked if he wanted to stay at Celtic for the rest of his career, he said: “I have always said that. I'm just thankful that now I have secured my long-term future. There is no guarantee of starting every game, you don't get a free ride at Celtic.”

Dundee United completed a double acquisition yesterday when Craig Levein unveiled Andis Shala, a German striker, and Michael McGovern, the Northern Ireland goalkeeper from Celtic. Shala, who is 19, was previously with VFR Mannheim and has agreed a three-year contract while McGovern has signed a one-year contract.

The 23-year-old had been at Celtic for seven years but was behind Artur Boruc, the Poland goalkeeper and Mark Brown in the queue. Now he will be understudy at Tannadice to another Pole in Lucasz Zaluska.