Leicester forward Jamie Vardy has agreed a new four-year deal with the Foxes and snubbed a switch to Arsenal
It has been announced that England and Leicester striker Jamie Vardy has agreed a new four-year deal with the Premier League champions, despite the fact Arsenal had triggered a release clause in his contract reported to be in the region of £20million.
Vardy was believed to have been considering the offer from the Gunners.
He was due to make a decision on the move after the European Championships, but it seems the striker has now decided to stay with the Midlands club.
Recent reports had suggested that Vardy was going to reject the overtures of Arsenal in favour of remaining with Claudio Ranieri’s title-winning side this summer have proven correct.
Reasons for staying at Leicester
No doubt the new deal will see Vardy’s wages rise, but that is unlikely to be the reason why the29-year-old turned down a switch to north London. Arsenal could easily have given the striker more money than the Foxes.
However it seems that Vardy would prefer to continue his career at Leicester. Leicester are playing Champions League football and he is playing with a group of players that seem extremely close and maybe that camaraderie helped him make the decision.
One factor may have been that he is a relatively big fish in a small pond at Leicester and he would have had to prove himself all over again at Arsenal. As a lot of players have found out in the past with moves to so called ‘big clubs’ the grass is not always greener, even if the wages are higher.
Leicester plucked Vardy from the non-league and took a chance on him. His signing was a gamble and the club have helped mould him into what he is today. Maybe he is now looking to give something back to the Foxes by staying at the club.
Leicester are ambitious
Anybody who dares to claim that Leicester is a bigger club than Arsenal should be quickly locked-up and taken away for psychological analyst. The Foxes fairy tale campaign may not be a one-off though, as although it would be naïve to consider Ranieri’s men as one of the favourites for the title next season the club are ambitious.
Leicester may be considered a relatively small club, but their Thai owners have deep pockets. They have chosen to build a team in a sensible and viable way that has to be applauded. The club are thinking big about the future and maybe Vardy is hoping to help Leicester sustain their position near the top of the Premier League table.
The Foxes have already been busy strengthening their squad for the vigour’s of a Champions League campaign next season and they are likely to bring in a number of new players in the coming months.
Everybody at the club will be confident that their team can further develop next season and become one that challenges for the European spots on a consistent basis, even if last season’s title heroics were just a one-off.
Chances of winning the Premier League title
As a result of Leicester’s 5000-1 title win last season the odds of every team to pull-off a title win in the English top-flight have been reduced, just to safeguard the bookmakers I suspect.
The arrival of Pep Guardiola and the return of Jose Mourinho to the league will make it doubly hard for an outsider to win the title next season. The Foxes are currently odds of 28/1, which is certainly in contrast to their odds from last summer.
It seems that Jamie Vardy may have the opinion that he is better off where he is comfortable, happy and scoring goals, rather than making a move to the unknown at Arsenal.
Only the striker can know why he has made the decision he has made, but in the long run it may be for the best for everybody involved.
Has Jamie Vardy made the right decision to stay at Leicester?
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