Rochester New York FC, the US club backed by Jamie Vardy, are in advanced talks to secure fresh investment ahead of the new season.
Vardy became a co-owner of Rochester, who compete MLS Next Pro (the third tier of American soccer), when he bought a minority stake in the club in June 2021.
Sportsmail understands that co-owners David and Wendy Dworkin are close to finalising third-party funding, which could see Vardy’s role adjusted to that of advisor.
With the Leicester forward playing an important role, Rochester reached the end-of-season play-offs in MLS Next Pro in 2022.
On February 22, a post from Rochester’s official account read: ‘As many of you have noted, our club has not posted since early January. While there has been considerable speculation and conjecture about the club and ownership, please know this.
‘We have been extremely busy behind the scenes exploring multiple strategic relationships to help our club be even more successful in 2023 and beyond. To that end, we anticipate providing updates in the coming week. Thank you for your support.’
Vardy had invested in Rochester as he was keen to recreate his own underdog story across the Atlantic.
The 36-year-old rose from non-League obscurity to become one of the greatest strikers of the Premier League era, helping Leicester win the league title and FA Cup for the first time in their history, in 2016 and 2022 respectively.
Vardy is 14th in the all-time Premier League goalscoring list, with 134 goals in 294 appearances.