Arsenal ‘trying to lure Jamie Vardy away from Leicester City’
Arsenal are trying to lure England striker Jamie Vardy away from Premier League champions Leicester City in a move worth around £20 million (HK$225 million), British media reported on Friday.
Vardy scored 24 league goals as Leicester, 5,000/1 rank outsiders, were crowned champions of England last season, finishing 10 points in front of second-placed Arsenal, one of the Premier League’s established powers.
I have said so many times if one player comes to me and says ‘Gaffer [manager], I want to go’, then I leave him to go because it is okay
His club form saw Vardy force his way into England’s squad for the upcoming European Championship.
Signing Vardy, who is already 29, would mark a major change in Arsenal’s transfer policy under long-serving French manager Arsene Wenger.
But the Guardian newspaper said “the striker’s availability for a relatively modest fee, and the alternative option that he provides in attack with his searing pace, has fuelled the manager’s interest”.
However, it was only in February that Vardy signed an improved three-and-a-half-year contract with Thai-owned Leicester.
The Guardian said Leicester could offer Vardy a new deal if they think that is what it will take to keep him at the Midlands club.
