Title-winning pals are now my enemies!
LEAGUE CHAMPS AT LEICESTER NOW VARDY IS READY TO BATTLE KANTE AND DRINKWATER ON SATURDAY
JAMIE VARDY will regard Danny Drinkwater and N’Golo Kante as “enemies” when Chelsea’s midfield axis returns to the King Power on Saturday.
Drinkwater’s debut for the champions, following his £35million deadline-day move to Stamford Bridge, is an immediate return to Leicester.
But there is no chance of Vardy peddling an old pals’ act.
Where the England striker once regarded Drinkwater and Kante – who defected to Chelsea last year to win backto-back titles – as comrades, while three points are at stake he will see only renegades.
“It will be good to see them again but for 90 minutes they are enemies,” said Vardy at the premiere of a fly-on-the-wall documentary about his search for the next Premier League stars concealed in non-league football.
“I messaged Drinky on deadline day, wishing him all the best with his move but not to expect any favours on Saturday.”
Despite being restricted to a brief gallop as a late substitute for England in Malta, the international break has proved productive for Vardy.
His Sky One series The Next Jamie Vardy, which unmasks him as football’s answer to Simon Cowell as a talent spotter and polisher of rough diamonds, will hit the nation’s screens on September 16.
In an age of ostentatious transfer spending – Premier League clubs shelled out an astonishing £1.4billion in the last window – Vardy’s crusade to identify cheaper alternatives who might otherwise get left behind by English football is a worthy initiative.
But after firing 5,000-1 nohopers to the title two seasons ago, and scoring in a record 11 consecutive games, Vardy himself is now in danger of being left behind in the vortex of Leicester’s triumph.
Although he turned down a move to Arsenal last summer, and signed a new four-year contract with the Foxes, there are few mountains left for him to climb at the King Power after promotion, a great escape, a title miracle and reaching the Champions League quarter-finals.
Drinkwater and Kante have left while Riyad Mahrez has been fluttering his eyelids at big clubs.
Vardy admits: “I want to win as much as possible – I don’t just want one Premier League medal in the drawer at home and an empty glass cabinet.
“I’m contracted to Leicester at the moment and I want to see how high we can go – but in the future, who knows?
“Down the road there might be an opportunity to go to the MLS or China, which I would like to experience. It was my choice to turn down Arsenal, but if another offer came in we would look at the pros and cons in the same way.”
I messaged Drinky and told him not to expect any favours from me