How much Jamie Vardy earns in Italy as shock Sheffield Wednesday link emerges | OneFootball

Jamie Vardy has been linked with a move to boyhood club Sheffield Wednesday, but how much does he currently earn in Italy?

Sheffield Wednesday have shown brilliant ambition already under their new ownership to bring in top operators off the field, and that may extend to the playing squad, with Jamie Vardy being discussed as a potential signing this summer.

Indeed, Joe Crann has reported that a return for the 39-year-old, 24 years after he was released from Wednesday's academy, is being discussed by the new higher-ups at Hillsborough.

Despite his age, if any League One side were able to bring Vardy in, whether that be his boyhood club, Wednesday, or a Leicester City side where he made 500 appearances before departing last summer, it would be seen as one of the signings of the season in the third tier.

Vardy still managed nine goals in a struggling Foxes side in his final Premier League season, and has found the target seven times for newly-promoted Cremonese in Serie A in the ongoing campaign as they battle against relegation.

Therefore, a switch to League One could still see the veteran striker be one of the top players in his position, and if Wednesday can bring him in, their chances of securing immediate promotion back to the Championship would improve exponentially.

Jamie Vardy's estimated wage at Cremonese

However, the clear drawbacks to Vardy dropping to League One would be whether any third-tier club could offer him enough weekly wages to tempt him over.

According to Capology's estimates, the 39-year-old currently earns £30,861 per week at Cremonese, which in itself was a wage drop of over £100,000 per week from his final seven years at the King Power Stadium.

Leicester were estimated to be paying him a whopping £140,000 per week up until his departure last summer, so perhaps the amount of money he has accumulated across his career could see him happy to drop even further down in terms of weekly wage to play at Hillsborough.

What is useful is that Sheffield Wednesday won't be subject to a £7,000 per week salary cap next season, which was feared throughout the latter stages of their administration, which means that they can pay Vardy over that amount if they offer him a contract.

But even then, he'd likely be one of the highest-paid players in League One next season, if that turns out to be his destination, which may put Wednesday off as they look to build a well-rounded squad capable of challenging for promotion.

Sheffield Wednesday would still have to use a large chunk of their wage bill to sign Jamie Vardy

If word comes out that Vardy is, in fact, open to moving to League One, he'll definitely not be short of offers; offers which may be higher than what Wednesday are willing to go.

The Owls need a lot of bodies this summer to bolster a vastly depleted squad that was gutted this time last year.

The depth chart following their retained list read that only 18 senior players are contracted to the Hillsborough-based club, and most of those still lack senior experience, as they were handed their debuts over the past year due to the terrible situation the club found itself in.

Therefore, while the sentimental value of bringing Vardy back to Hillsborough would bring about a lot of excitement, Sheffield Wednesday may be wiser to use the money they would be taking out of their wage bill and spread that out across a few different players with a better potential to take the club even further than the 39-year-old can.