Eleven years after his Football League debut, Jamie Vardy is back where he started, trying to write another chapter of modern football’s greatest tale.
Vardy joined Leicester in the Championship from non-league Fleetwood for £1million in 2012 and helped them win promotion to the Premier League in his second season.
Now, after 136 top-flight goals, a Premier League title, an FA Cup, a Champions League quarter-final, a World Cup semi-final and 26 England caps, and with many millions in the bank, he has to do it all over again.
Vardy is at his best when he has a point to prove. How he would love to silence those who believe his powers have waned significantly. Vardy will turn 37 in January and is convinced he still has a great deal to offer. His contract has only a year to run but at this stage he will hear no talk of this being his final season.
Relegation last season hurt him deeply, especially as he felt Brendan Rodgers’ slow build-up play ruined his effectiveness, and Vardy lost a little motivation as a result. Dean Smith’s arrival late in the season revived Vardy, who scored twice in the interim boss’s first three games, but it was not enough to keep the Foxes in the division - nor Smith in a job.
This will be Enzo Maresca’s first senior role in English football and he will discover quickly that the Leicester job is rather more difficult than working as part of Pep Guardiola’s coaching staff. Managing spiky characters such as Vardy is a significant part of that, although the early signs are promising.
‘This is a totally different way from how we’ve played in the past,’ said Vardy at an event on Leicester’s recent pre-season tour of Thailand. ‘We’ve had all the details of how the manager wants us to play and now it’s up to us to implement it.’
The rapport between Maresca and Vardy will go a long way towards determining how successful Leicester’s season will be. If the Italian has Vardy on board, the squad are more likely to follow their most celebrated player.
Throughout his career, Vardy has been a keen student of football. Noted originally for his pace, his supreme game intelligence was often remarked on by managers — but they also recognised that he always needs to feel involved.
That means a lively tempo and regular early deliveries into spaces that Vardy can attack. Having worked under Guardiola, Maresca is big on a possession game — but keeping the ball for the sake of it is not the way to get the best out of Vardy.
The forward has a lucrative contract and it is hard to imagine him playing elsewhere, though interest from clubs in Turkey and Saudi Arabia show there is still a market for him.
Speaking in July shortly after agreeing a three-year deal with Leicester, Maresca said: ‘He is an unbelievable player. Hopefully he can stay with us. This is the most important thing. He’s a main player. I’ve talked with Jamie a few times already. He did not have any worries about leaving.’
It will be fascinating to see how Maresca plans to use Vardy. His physical data in pre-season is as impressive as ever and his approach to rest and recovery — Vardy has a cryotherapy chamber installed at his home — is exemplary.
It would be a stretch to think he could match his appearance tally from his previous season at this level when he started 36 games and scored 16 times as he fired the Foxes to promotion. Yet Leicester need Vardy around.
If he can find the old sharpness, he will be too good for many Championship defences. Leicester have sold James Maddison and Harvey Barnes and will lose more Rodgers-era players before the window closes.
New faces will arrive, but, along with Marc Albrighton, Vardy represents the link to the club’s greatest days — the title win in 2016 and the FA Cup victory in 2021.
Though ‘identity’ is one of football’s many irritating buzzwords, Leicester lost theirs last season and need to get it back. A new manager and new style will help, but Vardy is the key.
He remains a hero to fans and the stadium announcer abandons numerical order when listing the starting XI, just so he can say Vardy’s name last. ‘And number nine, Jamie Vardy!’ is guaranteed to gee up the crowd.
Whenever Vardy calls it a day, plans will be drawn for a statue outside King Power Stadium. Luckily for Leicester, he is not ready to stand still just yet.
Jamie Vardy has 136 Premier League goals to his name, so it is no surprise that he is the favourite to be the Championship’s top scorer this season.
At 36, Vardy is also one of the division’s oldest players, so here are five of his leading rivals for the Golden Boot… and five players joining Vardy in the second tier’s Dad’s Army.
GOLDEN BOOT CONTENDERS
Che Adams, Southampton
His big move to the Premier League did not work out but the stability brought about by the appointment of Russell Martin should see the powerful forward return to top form.
Chuba Akpom, Middlesbrough
The Arsenal academy graduate had the season of his life in 2022-23, clinching the Golden Boot with 28 goals.
Ellis Simms, Coventry
The former Everton man has big shoes to fill after Viktor Gyokeres’ exit but impressed during a brief loan spell with Sunderland last season.
Joel Piroe, Swansea
The Dutchman has scored 41 league goals across the last two seasons despite playing in a Swansea side that does not create bags of chances.
Patrick Bamford, Leeds
Scored 16 goals in his last season at this level but the big question surrounding Bamford is whether he can stay fit. If he does, then there is a good chance he will fire Leeds to an immediate return to the Premier League.
GOLDEN OLDIES
Kyle McFadzean, 36, Coventry
The centre back has been a mainstay of Coventry’s defence since he arrived in 2019 and was part of the team that won promotion from League One in 2020.
Lee Peltier, 36, Rotherham
The Liverpool-born defender signed a new deal to the end of the season with the Millers after he played a key role in their survival last season.
Jonny Howson, 35, Middlesbrough
In the twilight of his career but Middlesbrough’s captain arguably played the best football of his career last season under Michael Carrick.
Albert Adomah, 35, QPR
The tricky winger may not be the goal threat he once was but one of his two goals last season secured QPR’s survival.
Erik Pieters, 34, West Bromwich
Pieters, who will turn 35 on Monday, recently signed a new one-year deal with West Brom.
Baggies boss Carlos Corberan praised the defender last season for still ‘training like a teenager’.