Jamie Vardy — A Premier League champion and the King of Foxes bids goodbye to Leicester City

Jamie Vardy — A Premier League champion and the King of Foxes bids goodbye to Leicester City

When Leicester City became one of the biggest examples of underdog success stories, a certain lean forward named Jamie Vardy from Sheffield ended up being its highest goalscorer that season.

Vardy, who started as a non-league player with Stocksbridge Park Steels, went on to the Premier League title in 2016, the crown jewel of English club football.

The 38-year-old, who once made medical splints as a technician, no more needs to go back to that day job.

In the last 13 years, he has become a legend at the King Power Stadium, scoring nearly 200 goals in 499 appearances and winning five titles with the Foxes, including two promotions from the Championship to the Premier League.

Raw pace, clinical finishes and crazy celebrations – Vardy has embodied the spirit of non-league football in the top flight, keeping his skills intact at the same time.

And that spell will come to an end when Leicester takes on Ipswich Town on Sunday. Both clubs have already been relegated, and Vardy had previously made it clear that he would leave the club after it failed to stay afloat in the top flight.

But talking about his farewell, he got emotional. “I’ll be devastated on the day when it is the last [game], but good things, they come to an end,” he told the club website.

“It’s going to be one of those emotional days. Who knows which way that can go? If you ask anyone, I’m not really an emotional guy.

“Nothing like that ever comes across with me, but when you’ve been somewhere for so long, and it is time to say goodbye, you just never know what your personal reaction is going to be,” he added.

Vardy has 144 goals in the Premier League, making him one of top-10 goalscorers for a single club in the competition.

Twenty four of those goals came in the 2015-16 season when Leicester City won its maiden and only league title till date.

The performance earned him a call up in the England national team, for which he played 26 times, scoring seven goals and featuring in two major tournaments, the 2016 European Championship and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

“When you’ve performed 13 seasons at this level, coming up to 500 games and 200 goals, that says it all. The standards you set yourself, the way you live your life around football and how you perform,” Ruud Van Nistelrooy said before his final game for the Foxes.

“Then you look at the trophies he has won, and the individual achievements. It’s the total package for one of the greatest.”

Though the 38-year-old leaves the club after the match against Ipswich, the footballing world can expect more from him before he hangs up his boots.

“Football is a crazy world. You never know what’s going to happen,” Vardy told Sky Sports. “I’ll keep going until my legs tell me I need to stop. My legs are fine. I’m doing a sport that I love, it’s what I’ve done since I was a little kid, so long may that continue.”