”It was all planned" - Why Jamie Vardy has signed for Burnley after Sheffield Wednesday interest | OneFootball

The 39-year-old forward's return to English football was confirmed earlier this week

Jamie Vardy has revealed that his return to the English game with Burnley was not a rushed decision after there was plenty of interest in his services throughout the now-closed transfer window.

The 39-year-old forward has become one of the most high-profile names in English football over the past decade or so for a multitude of reasons, especially his previous goalscoring exploits with Leicester City.

Vardy became the first ever player to be sold by a non-league side when he moved to the King Power Stadium in 2012, before spending the best part of 13 years with the East Midlands outfit before departing on a free transfer last summer and joining Italian side, Cremonese.

However, he would last just one season at the Stadio Giovanni Zini as his former employers were immediately relegated back to Serie B, which left him as a free agent throughout the off-season.

Despite being aged 39, the former England international was linked with a plethora of clubs, some of which have been well-documented to have affiliations to the striker.

But, despite the Clarets' disastrous start to the new Championship season under Belgian head coach, Nicky Hayen, the vastly-experienced figure has revealed that he still has more to give after penning a one-year contract.

Jamie Vardy breaks silence on Burnley FC, £0 transfer agreement

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Throughout the summer, a plethora of clubs were reported to have targeted the services of Vardy before he eventually settled on a move to Turf Moor earlier this month.

There was, of course, intense speculation over a return to Leicester despite the Foxes' fall into League One, as well as a potential switch to his boyhood club, Sheffield Wednesday, who were also relegated to the third tier but have since embarked on a positive start to the David Storch era at Hillsborough.

West Ham United, Everton and Brazilian Serie A outfit, São Paulo, were also credited with interest, but speaking on his latest career switch, Vardy has revealed: "They were good (conversations with Burnley).

"I wanted to spend a bit of time with the family, we don't really get a chance to do that over the summer, so I left it as long as possible (and) kept myself ticking over as I always do, knowing that I still wanted to play and found out that Burnley were interested.

"Got the phone call and zoom calls, so it wasn't something that just happened overnight, it was all planned," he explained.

"It's a hunger, I'm doing something that I love doing. I've always said that when my legs tell me that that's enough, I'm not stupid, I'll stop there and then."

Jamie Vardy adds further experience to Burnley's squad despite disastrous start

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As previously mentioned, Hayen's opening month in East Lancashire has been rather disastrous, both on and off the pitch, with supporters' relationship with American owner, Alan Pace, also souring further.

That said, Vardy does add a strong amount of further experience to the 46-year-old's squad as they look to resurrect a winless start that continued away to Wrexham on Tuesday night.

The forward will link up with fellow Sheffield native and another ex-England international, Kyle Walker, who has remained in BB10 to feature in five of the Clarets' six Championship games thus far as captain.

Burnley cannot rely on Jamie Vardy straight away despite high-profile signing

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Despite such experience being added to the ranks, boasting a record of 200 goals in 500 games for Leicester, as well as 54 goal contributions and two league winners' medals at Championship level, it is highly unlikely Burnley can rely on Vardy as soon as possible.

Whilst the striker has clearly kept his fitness in good check over the summer, he has had no pre-season in a club environment and hasn't played competitively since May 24th.