Vardy a touch of class for Southgate

continued his late career progression with a place at Euro 2016 in France Vardy knows being selected for Russia would cap a fairytale story.

“Yeah it’s a massive difference for me to even be in the frame from four years ago when I watched the World Cup while I was on holiday,” he said.

“Hopefully I get there. But I just enjoy playing football. That’s what I always wanted to do. So I just make sure I knuckle down every time I get the chance to play.”

Vardy and the rest of Southgate’s stars are aware of the pressure on England to finally perform at a tournament after disasters in 2014 and Euro 2016.

But he admits there’s enough evidence already to show England can be more versatile than at previous championships.

“We’re still progressing. We want to make sure that, like against Holland, we are solid,” Vardy said.

“Keeping clean sheets is always good because with the attackers we’ve got there are goals in the team to get us the victories.

“With Harry Kane out we tried a different formation in Holland and above all it’s encouraging for the entire team.

“We’re very close-knit and we know what we want to do, which is winning games and winning as many as possible.

“Our aim is to just concentrate on our games and try to improve and hopefully it will work out for us.”