What’s happened to Leicester City legend Jamie Vardy at Cremonese? | OneFootball

FLW takes a look at how former England and Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy is getting on at Cremonese in Serie A.

Last summer, Jamie Vardy finally departed Leicester City at the end of his contract, joining newly-promoted Serie A minnows Cremonese on a free transfer.

The former England international joined Leicester in the summer of 2012 from Fleetwood Town for a fee believed to be worth £1 million, becoming the first non-league footballer to be sold for a seven-figure deal.

Vardy went on to not only become a Leicester legend but also one of the most recognisable names and faces in English football as he led the Foxes to the Premier League title, one year after a ‘great escape’ from relegation from the top flight.

As well as being a Premier League champion, he remained instrumental in Leicester’s 2021 FA Cup triumph and scored exactly 200 goals in exactly 500 appearances for City in his 14-year stint.

Following Leicester’s relegation, Vardy was linked with several EFL clubs on a free transfer, perhaps most notably a move to Wrexham, but none of them came to fruition as he opted for a move to Italy.

Jamie Vardy had an incredibly bright start to life at Cremonese

Having arrived late in the summer, during what was an extremely busy summer transfer window for Cremonese, Vardy became an instant fans’ favourite at Stadio Giovanni Zini.

Cremonese appointed Serie A’s so-called ‘miracle worker’, Davide Nicola, famed for his work in helping the likes of Crotone, Salernitana, Empoli and Cagliari, all avoid the drop in remarkable circumstances, and Vardy was brought in to lead the charge on that goal.

Cremonese began the season extremely well, with back-to-back victories against AC Milan and Sassuolo, with the arrival of Vardy only boosting the morale in Cremona.

Vardy himself began well, too, scoring in a 1-1 draw with Atalanta in what was just his second start for the club back in late-October before some excellent performances as Cremonese continued to overperform.

With a classic Vardy-like strike against Juventus, in which he made a fool out of Federico Gatti, the Englishman was lighting up Serie A, winning the league’s Player of the Month for November and then beginning December with a match-winning brace against Bologna.

Things have regressed both Jamie Vardy and Cremonese

That win was backed up by a 2-0 defeat of Lecce, but a 2-1 loss to the Apulia-based outfit in a real six-pointer at Stadio Comunale Via del Mare this weekend, has extended Cremonese’s winless run of form to 14 games.

Vardy has featured in all 14 of those games, but he has provided just two more direct goal involvements with a goal and an assist in a 2-2 draw with Cagliari in early January.

In that 14-game run, Cremonese have failed to find the net on, quite remarkably, 11 occasions and the pressure is growing on both Nicola and Vardy.

The 39-year-old Sheffield-born attacker has remained a key figure in Lombardy, but he has now begun to be dropped from the starting eleven, coming off the bench in a recent 3-0 hammering at the Stadio Olimpico against Roma before being substituted at half-time in that 2-1 loss away at Lecce.

No one can begrudge Vardy for wanting to experience something different but, as the summer approaches, it could well be that a return to more familiar surroundings in England beckons.

Vardy has shown flashes of his undoubted quality in Italy’s top-flight, but a second successive relegation is looming for the veteran striker – while his individual performances fall off a cliff.