Jamie Vardy’s potential Arsenal move took two blows today, with two interviews seemingly pouring water on such a deal from the player himself and Leicester City’s chairman.
The 29 year-old has one of the most influential stories to tell of any of the top players at present, having risen up the footballing ranks from Conference Premier side Fleetwood Town in 2012, to playing in and winning the Premier League title whilst breaking records in 2016.
Vardy is now playing in his first ever international tournament with England, and the dream continued when he was brought onto the pitch for his Euro 2016 debut at half-time yesterday, only to net the much-needed equaliser, before his side went onto win the match.
The story is far from over for him yet, with a possible extended run in the first-team for the European Championships this summer, before he has to make the decision on whether to leave the Premier League champions and join Arsenal, who have already agreed to meet his release clause.
Vardy gave an interview following that amazing English win, and was asked whether it had been hard to focus on his football while his club future was uncertain.
The striker responded: “It’s been easy (to shut that out). I’m here to concentrate and focus on England and that’s all I’m going to be doing and now we’ll just get back on that training field and focus on the next match.”
Leicester City’s chairman seemed confident in their attempts to keep their top goalscorer with the club beyond the current window, saying: ‘You will see the news very soon, but I think he will stay.
‘I think, so let’s see. We need to build the team. We keep continuing to believe that we can do something special in the Premier League and the Champions League.
‘The Champions League is going to be amazing for Leicester, so let’s see. Leicester is the underdog and we can still be the underdog.’
This transfer has appeared less and less likely to happen since he refused to confirm a switch to Arsenal before the start of Euro 2016, and this all-but confirms it for me.
Do you still believe there is a chance this deal will happen? Should we just pursue other deals anyway?