What on earth is happening in the world? It seems that 2016 can not get any more strange. Forget Donald Trump in the US election or Kim Jong-un controlling North Korea as if he is playing The Sims, this year, the world has taken notice of one thing, that is of course, Leicester City. The fairytale has been the most publicised story in history with a team of rejects and ‘has-beens’ pulling together to win the title.
At the centre of the dream has been Jamie Vardy. A man who, as everybody now knows, was playing non-league football as recently as 2012, gradually worked his way up to play in the Premier League and incredibly broke the division’s goalscoring record for consecutive games netted in last season in Leicester’s magical campaign.
The 29-year-old has been such a hero, that right now, a Hollywood film of his life story is being written. But how does the fairytale end? Arsenal seem to have secured a deal for the Englishman, but will that ruin the story and will he be a good signing for the Gunners? FootballFanCast takes a closer look…
Unproven?
Vardy is a global superstar right now and is living the dream. The nimble forward scored an incredible 24 times in the league for Leicester last season and earned his first England caps – he has already scored three times for the Three Lions. Vardy scored eight more goals than Arsenal’s top scorer Olivier Giroud, too.
However, in the previous season for Leicester in England’s top flight, Vardy netted just five goals. He did manage to assist on 10 occasions that season, but at Arsenal, assists are left mostly for Mesut Ozil! Realistically, Vardy has had just one season in the limelight and even though it was an incredible season, this may be a move that damages his career and reputation.
Arsene, he’s 29!
Arsene Wenger so often opts to sign younger players and design around the future. The Vardy deal looks to be a short term plan, so perhaps Wenger is deciding to do what Sir Alex Ferguson did in 2012/13 when he signed Robin van Persie and won the league.
This signing may be literally just to fire Arsenal to the title one last time under Wenger as his contract expires in 2017. Wenger knows that Vardy is capable of scoring in the Premier League and doesn’t want to take the risk of signing a foreign striker who needs to adapt to English football. Nonetheless, it does seem weird for Arsenal to sign Vardy when the club is more than capable of splashing £50m-60m on the likes of Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang or Antoine Griezmann, who are considerably younger.
Is there more to come?
Jamie Vardy may have been the centre of attention throughout the season for the fans and the media but his Algerian team-mate, Riyad Mahrez, was the one who really stole the show. The PFA player of the year scored 17 goals and claimed 11 assists, and Vardy did rely on Mahrez throughout the season – the pair together were pivotal in Ranieri’s quest for success.
When Vardy plays for England, he is far less threatening. By no means does that mean he is not a class forward, but Vardy has found it difficult to adapt to international football and didn’t score until his fifth outing. Vardy is a lot more comfortable with Riyad Mahrez at his side and Arsenal fans will hope that he can lure the 25-year-old to north London with him.
Arsenal could be an incredible side with Mahrez, Vardy, Alexis and Ozil. Arsenal have of course already signed Granit Xhaka, which has signalled an unusual approach to the transfer window from Wenger’s perspective. The Gunners may actually be willing to spend money this summer and with Welbeck injured for nine months and Arsenal having no real other prolific striker, Wenger may actually go out and sign another!
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Does Vardy suit Arsenal’s style
If Arsenal’s style is missing tons of chances and passing the ball backwards then no, Vardy most definitely does not suit Arsenal’s style. But of course, Arsenal are certainly able to play free flowing attacking football which is why the world fell in love with them all those years ago (well, not all the world!).
Despite Arsenal playing possession football, the Gunners do create chances, and lots of them, whether they come from Ozil, the wingers, or the full-backs, chances come in abundance and Vardy loves nothing more than tucking away a clinical pass or cross – he could definitely score some of the chances that Giroud spurns.
There are just two problems with the Vardy and Arsenal mix. Firstly, when Arsenal get desperate, the wingers or full backs often lump a cross into the box, Vardy is by no means bad in the air, but he is nowhere near as tall as Giroud or Welbeck and would find it difficult to score the chances that the Frenchman sometimes does. The other problem is that so often we see Wenger plant his forwards on the wing. Why? Nobody knows, but as we have seen with Vardy in Roy Hodgson’s England side, he is not as effective on the wing and must play up front. The only other problem with Vardy, albeit a small one, is that he has been playing in a 4-4-2 system at Leicester and Arsene Wenger seems to prefer 4-2-3-1 which would leave Vardy isolated, can he handle it?
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Does the big move ruin the fairytale?
Many football fans out there will have seen the ‘Goal!’ film series. The man who wrote and directed these films has met with Vardy to script his very own Hollywood story, but this move could give the narrative a bit of a twist.
Of course, it is everyone’s dream to play for one of the world’s biggest clubs and live in the big city with all the fans, but perhaps this also makes Vardy the villain. Although Leicester owe a great deal of their success to Vardy, he himself owes his success to them. Without Leicester, Vardy would still be a ‘nobody’ playing, perhaps, in a park right now. Vardy would be joining a side that actually finished below his old team in the previous season and the move can really only be described as selfish. Perhaps the money incentive or maybe Vardy wants to play for one of the world’s best, but the move does seem to ruin the magical way in which his career has unfolded.
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