In the summer of 2015, Leicester City fans were calling for the club to sell their third-choice striker, Jamie Vardy, after he had scored just five goals in 36 top-flight appearances.
In his 170 Premier League outings since, the former non-league frontman has netted 101 goals in England’s top division, making him the newest, and arguably the most impressive, member of the league’s elusive 100 Club.
Reaching a century of goals in front of an empty stadium would not have been Vardy’s preferred environment but it will have come as something of a relief after his 97th goal came 209 days ago. Not only do the goals against Crystal Palace see the Englishman reach an immense landmark but they also extend his lead in the race for this season’s Golden Boot. If he does go on to win that race, he will become the oldest winner of the accolade in the Premier League era, simultaneously becoming the Foxes’ first winner since Gary Lineker in 1985.
Impressive story
While many remember Vardy’s indispensable role in the title win, his England caps and his reputation of provoking opposition fans, the story for a lad born in South Yorkshire never looked as though it would turn out this way. Rejection from his boyhood club at 16 made a career in professional football look inconceivable and it took almost a decade for that dream to become reality.
A £1 million bid was received by Fleetwood Town for their star striker whose non-league career had been eventful one; from balancing his job working in a factory to playing with a tag following an assault charge on a night out. At the time, it was a record fee for a player outside of England’s top four divisions and eyebrows were raised towards Leicester’s scouting team who would go onto make a pretty good name for themselves.
Vardy admitted that at the end of his first campaign with the Foxes he had no intention of playing football after falling out of love with the sport but the words of encouragement from Nigel Pearson and Craig Shakespeare saw David Nugent’s understudy change his mind. Quoting that pre-season as the hardest he has worked in his career, it was soon clear to see why as he played a pivotal part in firing the Foxes back into the Premier League with 16 goals and 10 assists.
Slow start in the Premier League
His first top-flight start saw him burst onto the Premier League scene as he put in one of the greatest individual performances in memory, scoring one and assisting four as Leicester staged a remarkable comeback in a famous 5-3 victory against Manchester United. The rest of the season was a quiet one for Vardy whose brilliance was limited to a handful of stand-out moments as his side spent most of the campaign in the bottom three.
However, one of those moments played a vital role in maintaining the club’s Premier League status as his breakaway goal at the Hawthorns in April secured a huge three points during Leicester’s great escape.
His form at the end of that season warranted his maiden England call-up and his debut soon followed as he came off the bench in a goalless draw against the Republic of Ireland. He would have to wait until March of the following year for his first international goal but it was certainly worth the wait as his intricate flick snuck inside Manuel Neuer’s near post to set the Three Lions on their way to a famous away victory against Germany.
That was one of many brilliant memories during the 2015/16 season for Vardy whose 24 league goals played a starring role in the 5000/1 fairytale. One of his personal disappointments of that campaign would have been missing out on the Golden Boot by just a single goal, leaving him to rue a missed penalty in the final home game against Everton. But the highs definitely outweighed the lows in that season as a Premier League winners’ medal, the Football Writers’ Player of the Year award and a Guinness World Record were more than he could have dreamed of at the beginning of the campaign.
Goals continue to flow for Vardy
Whilst it was a frustrating season that followed for Vardy and his team-mates, they got a taste of life in the Champions League and their run to the quarter-final gripped the continent. A far from embarrassing exit at the hands of Atletico Madrid in the last eight was a phenomenal achievement but the form in the league brought cause for concern leading to Claudio Ranieri losing his job in February.
With the Foxes’ star striker on just five goals for the season at that stage, a reputation as a ‘One Season Wonder’ started to gather momentum but he soon put the name to bed, netting eight times in the league in 13 matches under Craig Shakespeare.
Another season brought yet another manager for Leicester as Claude Puel took over in October 2017 and while Vardy may not have necessarily seen eye-to-eye with the Frenchman, his return was once again impressive; finishing the season with 20 Premier League goals. It was another visit to the Hawthorns that provided arguably his best goal for the Foxes, a sensational left-footed volley that went on to win the league’s Goal of the Month award for March.
With unrest amongst the squad really starting to take have an effect during the 2018/19 campaign, it became another season where Leicester underachieved in the league, leading to another February sacking. As Brendan Rodgers took the hotseat, it gave him three months to get the measure of his players following an admission of his admiration for Vardy who had scored nine goals for the season before his arrival. A strong relationship between the pair was soon established as the Foxes’ striker scored nine goals in the ten remaining league games to inspire a strong finish to the season for the club.
With optimism levels amongst the supporters at an all-time high heading into the current campaign, it quickly transferred onto the pitch with Vardy and Leicester making a fantastic start to the season. By mid-December the Foxes were flying buoyed by the blistering form of Vardy who was out on his own in the race for the Golden Boot following a run of eleven goals in eight consecutive matches.
Records continue to tumble
Encompassed in that run was just his second professional hat-trick in the division’s biggest ever away win: the 9-0 thrashing of Southampton at St Mary’s. However, losses against title rivals Liverpool and Manchester City around Christmas all-but dashed any hopes of another league triumph as the goals dried up for the Premier League’s leading scorer.
A run of ten matches followed where Vardy’s name was not on the scoresheet which paralleled with a dip in form for Rodgers’ side. With a secure place in the Champions League positions slowly slipping away, the 33-year-old finally broke his mini goal drought with a quickfire brace off the bench against struggling Aston Villa to take his top-flight tally to 99.
It would be another three and a half months before he could make it 100 due to a league suspension in response to the coronavirus pandemic. But even after the return of the Premier League, it was not until his fourth game back where Vardy would reach a magnificent century with possibly his easiest goal of the lot.
Nothing but pure relief was clear for all to see in his celebration as he became the 29th player to reach 100 Premier League goals. When asked if he had ever believed he would reach such an impressive tally when joining the Foxes in 2012, the cheeky smile on Vardy’s face held the answer. Of course, he had never imagined it and neither had the thousands of Leicester fans who questioned his signing eight years ago.
But if there is one thing that they have learned in that time, it is that you should never write off Jamie Vardy.