Vardy happy with decision to turn his back on Arsenal move
JAMIE VARDY has no regrets he turned down Arsenal despite seeing his fairytale rise to fame collapse since saying no to Arsene Wenger.
Vardy is tipped to lead the line when England face Germany in a friendly international in Dortmund tomorrow having finally found form since snubbing the Gunners last June.
That decision was followed by a miserable Euro 2016 in which England were knocked out by Iceland — and by a disastrous start to the Premier League campaign, too. The striker scored only two League goals in his first 14 games and was then blamed by some fans for contributing to the sacking of titlewinning manager Claudio Ranieri.
Vardy claims the storyline has left him as one of the most hated players in English football and seen his family threatened but, despite all that, he is adamant he has never regretted choosing Leicester above Arsenal.
“If I’d played like that I would have been in the same situation there, so no. No, not at all,” he said. “The main thing was not to let it get you down. That is the worst thing — then you will just never want to go on the pitch again. So you just have to keep working hard.
“If you keep working at the things that play,p the way that I like to speak t to the lads or manage situations is tthe way that I do things. “NothNothing has changed in my game since I hadh that armband, apart from the fact I’m now 31 and I have learned a lot fromfro someone like him. I will went well in the past there is a point where they will start working for you again. It was hard but that has started to happen. We have started to pick the wins up and dragged ourselves away from the relegation zone.”
The challenge now for Vardy, who has scored four goals in his last five games, is to take that form onto the international stage — something he was unable to do at Euro 2016 despite a goal against Wales. And he believes England can learn from Leicester’s experience.
He said: “I don’t think you can explain what happened at the Euros — it’s strange. It’s not something anyone wanted to happen but it did happen. continue to learn from him while he is at the club.”
The duo have shared a close bond since Cahill left Bolton for Chelsea for £7m in January 2012, three years after they became England team-mates. However, the veteran defender is not trying to interfere now that Cahill is the main voice on matchday.
“I have been my own man,” Cahill insisted. “We have a great relationship, everyone knows that. John leaves me to get on with it. I don’t think he looks at me like a 21-year-old coming through. He But no one expected what Leicester did to happen either but it did. So, sometimes you can’t put your finger on it.
“It’s down to us to keep working hard because you have to keep going. We’ve never struggled when it’s come to qualifying but for some reason it’s not happening in tournaments. There’s got to be something that’s slightly off there. I think we’ve just got to focus to make sure we take the qualifying form into the tournaments.”
England’s task begins in Dortmund tomorrow with a friendly against the world champions ahead of a World Cup qualifier against Lithuania at Wembley on Sunday.