BRODIE: I CAN LIVE WITH THE VARDY BUILD-UP
WHILE their most famous product stands on the brink of a Premier League title, Stocksbridge Park Steels are hoping they really have found the next Jamie Vardy.
Brodie Litchfield was younger than the Leicester City and England star when he made his debut for the Evo-Stik NPL Division One South club.
While Vardy was 20, Litchfield was just 16 when he first appeared in the first team against Loughborough Dynamo and his potential led to him being snapped up by Sheffield United last year.
Stocksbridge chairman Allen Bethel has even said the youngster is better than Vardy was at the same age.
Now 18, he’s just returned to the League One Blades after a loan spell at his hometown team, where he scored three goals in four starts.
Litchfield says Vardy is the inspiration behind his own dream of making it to the top of the game.
“I get told all the time by the chairman, Allen Bethel, about what Vardy has done,” Litchfield told “He thinks I can go as far as him. But it’s up to me, isn’t it? I’ve got to put in the hard work.
“I’m very similar to him in the way I play. That’s where I get it from.
“I’m not Jamie Vardy. I want to be my own player, though it gives me motivation.”
That drive means Litchfield is far happier learning his craft in first-team football, rather than the comfy confines of Under-21.
“Going on loan to Stocksbridge was getting used to men’s football again,” he said. “Academy and U21s football isn’t quite the same as firstteam football. So, they sent me on loan, to see what I can do with men around me and how I could handle it.
“The loan improved me a lot – especially my first touch. Obviously, some of the pitches aren’t as good, so I had to really concentrate on that first touch. I’ve gone back to Sheffield United a better player and I know how hard I’ve got to work.”