Column: Vardy's high-speed brilliance ignored by blinkered elite

He's a slip of a lad from Sheffield and he's the top scorer in the most competitive league in the world.
Jamie Vardy must be worth around £50millionJamie Vardy must be worth around £50million
Jamie Vardy must be worth around £50million

He’s lightning quick, a great finisher and never stops running. Hollywood wants to make a film of his remarkable pub-team-to-Premier-League story.

But, it seems, Jamie Vardy will always be a second class football citizen in the eyes of the game’s elite.

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Vardy, formerly of Stocksbridge Park Steels and the Anvil pub team at Stannington has been one of the best strikers in the world for the last 18 months.

He scored 11 goals in 11 games to set a new Premier League record in December and after a dry spell in January returned to form with a couple against Liverpool - one of which might be the goal of the season.

But who came in to buy him in the January transfer window?

Nobody.

At a time when there’s talk of a £140 million bid for Brazilian striker Neymar Junior - according to Neymar senior - no-one wants Vardy.

Why?

Is it because he’s just turned 29?

Is it because he’s said to have been a ‘bit of a lad’ in his younger days?

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Or is it just soccer snobbery that says this lightning slip of a Sheffield poacher who was released by Wednesday as a 16-year-old can’t possibly be the real thing - as he rattles in his 17th and 18th league goals of the season to take his team back to the top of the Premier?

Vardy’s predatory instincts and desire have helped transform a team that were dead and buried at the bottom of the Premier League this time last year to make them the most unlikely title contenders since Norwich in 1993.

But still no offers?

If Neymar Junior is worth £140 million, huge talent that he is, Vardy has to be worth at least £50 million.

Every supporter whose team are not contenders - apart from Forest and Derby - wants Leicester to win the league and it’s great for them that Vardy has signed a new three year deal.

If they do win it - no-one really believes they can do that either do they? - Vardy will probably have around 30 goals and be ready to make his mark on the European Championships.

Still no takers?