Jamie Vardy’s transfer saga has all but ended after Arsene Wenger confirmed that the Leicester City striker will remain at the Premier League champions next season. The Arsenal manager revealed that as far as he knows, Vardy is set on remaining with the Foxes, despite Arsenal activating his release clause and reportedly offering him a bumper deal.
Wenger made the revelation on a Chinese TV program, whether intentionally or not remains unclear, as he was asked about the Vardy transfer saga and was surprisingly open about discussing the transfer. In response to the question about Vardy, Wenger said, “Jamie Vardy is at the moment with Leicester, and from what I know he will stay at Leicester.”
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The frank admission from the Arsenal manager does leave some room for an about turn from Vardy, since the Leicester striker is still at the moment with the English national team at the Euros, and is unlikely to be dealing with the complications of a move at present.
However, indications from Vardy’s camp throughout the Euros have mostly revealed that the Englishman is keen on staying with Leicester City, especially since the Foxes reportedly prepared a more lucrative contract for Vardy to sign after the Gunners activated his transfer clause.
Here is the video where Arsene Wenger all but confirms Vardy’s rejection
Arsenal to move on to other transfer targets
Arsene Wenger has repeatedly spoken about the dearth of top quality strikers in the transfer market, and with Vardy available for a relatively low price of £20 million, activated the transfer clause for a 29-year-old striker with no resale value, a change of tack for the Arsenal manager – although it seems as if that target is now a dead end.
Recently, Leicester City vice-chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha exclusively told the Daily Mail that Vardy would stay, saying “You will see the news very soon, but I think he will stay. I think so, let's see. We need to build the team. We keep continuing to believe that we can do something special in the Premier League and the Champions League.”
Wenger has chased a striker in each of the past three seasons, with bids for Luis Suarez, Gonzalo Higuain and now Jamie Vardy all proving unsuccessful. Thus, there are indications that Arsenal will turn to PSG striker Edinson Cavani next, with the Uruguayan frontman keen to move on from Paris.
