How far can Jamie Vardy go? This is a question that every Premier League football fan in England is asking. Whilst a lot has been made of the journey he’s made so far, just how much can Vardy achieve in the future?
At this point of the season Vardy is the name on everyone’s lips, the freshly-minted Premier League Player of the Month for October heads into England’s next round of important friendlies against Spain and France with the weight of expectation on his shoulders for both the England national team and his club, Leicester City.
Vardy only joined the England team earlier this year, although such has been his progress in 2015 that a debate has now arisen regarding which position is best for him to play at international level. Whilst he has excelled for Leicester this season as a central striker, superstar Wayne Rooney is primarily used in this position. Therefore it appears Vardy will be playing on the wing for the foreseeable future.
Vardy has been the best striker in the Premier League this season, as he’s led Leicester to their current third place position in the league, only one point behind league leaders Manchester City. His current tally of 12 goals in 12 games in an outstanding statistic, as is his current scoring streak that runs to nine games. He is garnering a lot of headlines recently as he is now only one game away from equalling the Premier League record set by Ruud Van Nistelrooy of scoring in ten consecutive games.
This is all a long way away from his seasons in the Conference North and Conference Premier with the likes of Halifax Town and Fleetwood. At this stage he was simply another promising non-league player. This all changed with his 2011-12 season, where he netted an incredible 31 goals in 36 games for Fleetwood.
His first taste of national headlines came when then Championship side Leicester paid a huge £1 million pound transfer fee for the young striker. Since then Vardy has only gone from strength to strength, to the point now where he’s the first name on the high flying Leicester team sheet, and appears a certainty to be part of Roy Hodgson’s England squad for the upcoming Euro 2016 tournament.
This rise of Jamie Vardy is very similar to that of Rickie Lambert, who progressed through the Football League before establishing himself in the Premier League and for England. Whilst Lambert is entering the twilight of his career, Vardy is only 28 years old and has plenty of time left in his career.
Leicester have tried to warn off any interested teams by slapping a £15 million price tag on Vardy, although for some sides this may be a price their prepared to pay for him. Vardy has already been linked with the likes of Tottenham, Liverpool and even Real Madrid in January. It seems however that both Vardy and Leicester would like to continue their partnership.
The emergence of Vardy has opened questions around English football suggesting whether more attention should be given to lower or non-league football. Many people within English football are now suggesting more talents such as Jamie Vardy can be found within non-league football. They have used Vardy along with other examples such as Chris Smalling, Dwight Gayle, Lee Tomlin and Harry Arter to prove the point that Premier League talent can be found within the lower leagues. And that’s without even mentioning former England stars Ian Wright and Stuart Pearce.
Whilst this is a new debate in football, the fact it’s being seriously debated for the first time in a long while just shows the impact Jamie Vardy is having on English football currently. Already both Premier League and Football League clubs are scrambling to find the next Vardy amongst the non-league football system.
Vardy has an extremely bright future ahead of him should be able to stay injury free and carry on this scintillating form. If he can do this, he will likely earn himself a move to a Champions League club and could be the potential successor to Wayne Rooney in terms of being England’s best striker.
At this stage in his career, at only age 28, he has already achieved a lot. But if Vardy can carry on this form he may well go on to achieve a whole lot more in his career by the time he’s ready to hang up his boots. Who knows what may happen in the future for Jamie Vardy, but at this present moment it looks awfully bright for the striker.
Featured image: all rights reserved by Dom Fellowes.
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