Jamie Vardy set for emotional Leicester farewell as van Nistelrooy dubs him ‘one of the greatest’ | OneFootball

Leicester City’s talismanic striker Jamie Vardy will be playing his last ever Foxes match on Sunday as the Midlands club host fellow relegated side Ipswich.

Vardy joined the Foxes in 2012 from non-league side Fleetwood Town, making the jump up to the Championship.

In a Leicester shirt, he went on to lift the both the Premier League and the FA Cup, and became club captain.

As the 13-year relationship comes to a close, Leicester City manager Ruud Van Nistelrooy said: “When you see the amount of times a player is performing at the highest level, that’s the biggest achievement.

“When you’ve performed 13 seasons at this level, coming up to 500 games, 200 goals, that says it all. The standards you set yourself, you live your life around football and how you perform.

“Then you look at the trophies he has won, the individual achievements. It’s the total package for one of the greatest.”

Before the inevitably emotional ending, the Dutch manager knows there is a game to focus on for Vardy: “There’s many dates and numbers coming together, but the way I know him, he’ll come in and do his best to try and win the game.

“That’s what he’ll think about, that’s his aim. If that comes with a goal for him, or an assist, that’s how he’ll think.”

Vardy currently sits on 199 club goals for Leicester, and having scored against Southampton in the Premier League this month, he will hope to do it once more against another relegated side to take his total to 200.

van Nistelrooy added: “He’s preparing to win the game on Sunday, that’s what he does.”

“He’s been so good over so many years because of that mindset, he’s not been bothered with criticism or praise, he’s thinking of performing. There’s nothing different about how he is around the place.”

On what the future holds for Vardy, the Dutchman said: “He is not focused on the future after football. This will be his last game for Leicester City but he wants to continue playing. In that sense he is committed to perform and to play. That is what I have sensed with him.”

With eyes on giving Vardy the send-off he’ll hope for, Leicester are treating the match as business as usual.

“It is important to prepare the match like I always do,” van Nistelrooy continued. “Today and tomorrow is big in that. Prepare the team as best as we can as staff for the team to perform as well as they can, that is the most important thing I can do.

“Of course he will be leading the team out on Sunday. the rest is up to him and he will be ready for that.”