Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy has revealed that snubbing Arsenal to remain at the Foxes was an easy decision for him to make. In an interview, the striker revealed that he followed his head and heart to reject an opportunity to play for the North London club.
Arsenal were always in the search of a striker and were after the English international whose form last season had propelled Leicester to an incomprehensible first Premier League title.
According to various sources, Arsene Wenger had triggered the £22 million release clause in the striker’s contract at the beginning of June and the player himself had given consideration to the prospect of moving to Arsenal but in the end decided to stay with Leicester. Vardy, for his performances last season, earned himself a four-year contract worth €100,000 a week from the Thai owners of the club.
According to the Guardian Vardy spoke about his decision to remain at Leicester, “There were loads of reasons. You get that much time to think about, every single thing down to the tea lady. You think about what might happen, what might not.
“Where you could be, where not. Every time I thought about every little thing, though, both head and heart were saying ‘you need to stay’. I could see people’s point when they assumed I would go, but, deep down, if you don’t think it’s right for you, you don’t do it. It’s as simple as that. In my professional life, it was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make, but I haven’t been a professional for that long. It was hard, but it was actually an easy decision to make.”
Meetings with Arsene Wenger during Euro 2016
Arsene Wenger knew long before about Jamie Vardy’s decision to not come to the Emirates. There were a couple of meetings between the pair as both were staying in the same hotel during the European Championships in France where Vardy was representing England and Wenger was working as a pundit.
Speaking about the meetings Vardy was quoted as saying “Those meetings were either side of me making the decision: it was basically in every hotel we were staying in. It wasn’t awkward, though. It was just a simple ‘Hello, are you OK’... that kind of thing. I took it as a nice compliment they wanted to buy me.”
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Elaborating on the reasons that convinced him to stay at Leicester City, the English striker added, “Leicester have been on the rise for a while now and will keep doing that. Look at the deals they did in the transfer window: they obviously want to keep it going. And, if it does keep going, I want to be part of that. I’ve been there from when I was at Fleetwood Town, five years ago, when we were in the Championship and we have gone up and up and up.
“We are a group of brothers and lots of the lads have signed long-term deals now, which the gaffer wanted. To only lose [N’Golo] Kante from a Premier League-winning team is not that bad, so hopefully it will carry on. That is something I want to be part of.”
Leicester are currently on four points in the Premier League table with one win from three games.
