Chelsea are widely reported to be preparing an offer for Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy. The forward is a key player for the Foxes, and played a huge part in their title winning campaign. He was linked with a switch to Arsenal last summer during the European Championships when Arsene Wenger wanted to add a striker with Premier League experience.
Vardy has had a fairy tale of a career, joining Leicester City from non-league Fleetwood Town in 2012 and scoring an impressive 64 goals in 169 league appearances – winning the Premier League in the process. He has started the new season in brilliant form, scoring two in Leicester’s opening clash with the Gunners and putting in a solid performance against new boys Brighton. However, could his remarkable rise to stardom be set to take yet another twist?
According to the Daily Mirror, Premier League champions Chelsea are readying a bid for Vardy, with Antonio Conte desperate to add attacking reinforcements for the 2017/18 campaign.
Willy Caballero, Antonio Rudiger, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Alvaro Morata have already joined the Blues this summer but Conte is keen to bring in more signings due to the amount of outgoings. Swansea’s Fernando Llorente has been linked, but Jamie Vardy would certainly fit the bill with fans.
Following Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat of Spurs, Conte said: “The club is trying its best in the transfer market to improve our squad but I must be happy.”
“This moment is not easy for us but I am very happy to have this group of players because they showed me great commitment, desire and will to improve after a great season.”
“We only need to focus on the pitch, outside does not matter for us.”
It is unclear how much Chelsea would have to spend in order to acquire Vardy from Leicester, it is certainly a move the Foxes would do everything to stop from happening. Of course Leicester have been through this before last summer when Arsenal were in hot pursuit of Jamie Vardy and tabled a bid of over £20 million which it seemed as the Foxes were willing to accept but Vardy himself did not want to move to the Emirates and chose to remain in the East Midlands.