How much Jamie Vardy earns at Cremonese compared to Leicester City wage | OneFootball

The FA Cup and Premier League winner with the Foxes took a significant pay cut to go to Serie A

Jamie Vardy took a significant pay cut to sign for Serie A side Cremonese from Leicester City in the summer.

The Leicester City legend was open to a contract extension with the Foxes, but a deal was not agreed with the 38-year-old, and he instead headed to Italy on a free transfer.

In a perfectly circular Leicester career, that encompassed unlikely Premier League and FA Cup triumphs, Vardy signed off his final, and 500th, Foxes appearance with his 200th club goal.

All that success over the years had been reflected in the wage the club afforded him, meaning his next contract was always likely to be a step-down from his current levels.

Football League World takes a look at just how much his current salary has dropped from his Leicester days.

Jamie Vardy was on a fortune at Leicester City

In 2013/14, the earliest Capology has on record, Vardy was little more than an interesting non-league pick-up, rather than the household Premier League name he is today.

As such, according to Capology estimates, he started out on £8.5k per week at the King Power Stadium, which would still have been a far stretch from the sort of money he’d been used to at the likes of Fleetwood Town, Halifax Town and Stocksbridge Park Steels respectively.

But Vardy exploded once he’d settled in at Leicester, and his wage duly progressed along with his importance to the side, eventually settling on a £140k per week wage, which he earned for seven consecutive seasons between 2018-2025, according to Capology.

That is also believed to be the level of his final Leicester deal, before departing for Italy.

Given his age, he was never likely to reach such levels again in his next contract, and he did take a significant hit, but he’s still not doing bad on the continent.

Vardy completed his free transfer to Cremonese in the summer, signing a one-year contract with an optional additional year.

Based on Capology estimates, the striker now earns £31,420 per week under the new deal, with up to £7,813 a week available in bonuses.

That gives Vardy a potential earnings capacity of just over £2m per year: not bad for a player of his age, and an incredible amount of money, but still nowhere near what he was on at Leicester.

Nevertheless, it is a lot more than he would likely have been on had he retired and entered the world of coaching or punditry, as many ex-professionals do, and there is the added bonus that it allows him to experience a new culture, in a new country, while playing top sides like AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus.

Cremonese are bidding to remain in the Italian top flight, having returned this year, and enlisted Vardy’s help for the task.

He has played his part, making eight appearances, six from the start, and scoring two goals so far this season.

It is not the irresistible form we’ve seen in England in the past from Vardy, but it was never likely going to be as he enters a stage of his career that many footballers never reach, and the Italian side will have taken him on knowing that.

But he has already proven that he can make a tangible difference to the side, and all is well as things stand, with Cremonese safely above the relegation zone.

Vardy took a significant pay cut in agreeing his deal with Cremonese, but given the circumstances around it, it is still looking like a great move for the veteran striker.