Arsenal are expected to complete the £20m signing of Jamie Vardy, 29, today before England fly out to their Euro 2016 base in Chantilly, France.
The Gunners move for Leicester‘s star striker took English football by surprise with reports that West Ham and Liverpool were prepared to pay the England striker higher wages. Neither club has the Champions League football Arsenal can offer, which was a key element of the release clause.
As The Foxes headed toward their first ever Premier League title, there was plenty of speculation about which clubs would target Vardy but Arsenal’s interest was totally unexpected.
Arsene Wenger, accompanied by former Arsenal director David Dein, watched the Leicester striker at Wembley in England’s 1-0 win over Portugal. It is believed the pair spoke at length after the match and the Arsenal manager put forward a persuasive case for Vardy to leave the King Power. Leicester can’t match the financial power of the north London club, with Arsenal rumoured to have offered him a double-your-money weekly wage.
On the face of it, signing Vardy is a most un-Wenger-like piece of business. At 29, he would be one of the oldest signing since Arsene Wenger took over, and a complete a sea-change in the clubs transfer policy. This is a club who a decade ago, offered the likes of Robert Pires and Dennis Bergkamp rolling one-year contracts when they reached 30.
Vardy has been offered a £100k per week four-year deal by the club who trailed Leicester in second place last season. Leicester manager, Claudio Ranieri seemed resigned to the departure of his leading scorer, telling Italian media that a deal had been agreed between the two clubs.
It seems a simple decision for Vardy. Late to the professional game, he has climbed from non-league football to international football, having been rejected by Sheffield Wednesday as a youngster.
Read all transfer ins and outs, completed deals visit football transfer news.
