A move to boyhood club Sheffield Wednesday has been mooted as unrealistic for Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, after he announced that he is set to depart the King Power Stadium at the end of this season after 13 years with the Foxes.
Leicester were relegated from the Premier League last weekend after defeat at the hands of Liverpool, and further bad news has followed for Foxes supporters this week, with Vardy set to leave for pastures new following the conclusion of this campaign.
He has evolved into a club legend since he joined for just £1 million from non-league side Fleetwood Town in 2012, winning the Premier League in 2016, FA Cup in 2021 and numerous individual awards to boot.
https://twitter.com/vardy7/status/1915362209753968757?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1915362209753968757%7Ctwgr%5E5c4f400769d873a75ee15ceb5f2cabccbc407d75%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ffootballleagueworld.co.uk%2Fsheffield-wednesday-claim-made-on-jamie-vardy-return-leicester-city-reveal%2F
It remains to be seen where he will end up as he moves closer to the end of his playing days, but while he was born-and-raised as a Sheffield Wednesday fan, it does seem unlikely that he will be pulling on the blue and white at Hillsborough next season.
Sheffield Wednesday fan pundit offers ‘not happening’ Jamie Vardy transfer verdict
Vardy is one of the most iconic strikers of the modern Premier League era, and his Leicester exit will no doubt be an emotional one, particularly when he plays for the club at the King Power Stadium for the last time against Ipswich Town on May 18.
Besides the Foxes, he also holds deep emotional ties to Sheffield Wednesday, having grown up in the Hillsborough area of Sheffield. He has supported the club since he was a child, and idolised legendary Owls striker David Hirst while going to games as a fan in the 1990s and 2000s.
Vardy was even on Wednesday’s books as a youth player while trying to forge a career for himself in the game, but he was released from their academy at the age of 16 in 2003. He went on to play for Stocksbridge Park Steels, then Halifax Town and Fleetwood before joining Leicester in 2012.
Many Wednesday supporters would no doubt love one of their own in Vardy to return to his boyhood club this summer as he departs Leicester, and while FLW’s Owls fan pundit Patrick McKenna is no different, he believes there is very little chance of the 38-year-old making the move to Hillsborough anytime soon, due to both financial and sporting reasons.
“In regards to Jamie Vardy leaving Leicester and the idea of him joining Sheffield Wednesday, I think, to be honest, this has always kind of been more of a romantic idea, and never really based on reality,” Patrick told FLW.
“Of course, I don’t think there is any Wednesday fan that wouldn’t love a boyhood Wednesday fan playing for us, scoring goals for us.
“You can only imagine Jamie Vardy firing in the winner against Sheffield United in front of the Kop, but yeah, something like this will only remain a romantic notion.
“If Wednesday were in a far different position as a club, it would be under consideration to get him for on a year or two deal. But, the realities of where we are as a club, it’s just not a realistic option even to be considered.
“Let’s be honest, as it stands our owner is struggling to pay the wage bill as it is. There is a possibility hanging over us that there could be three-window transfer embargo, so the notion that we could get Vardy in is just not happening.
“I know Vardy is a boyhood Wednesday fan, but he wouldn’t come cheap. It’s not as if he’s going to say ‘oh yeah, since it’s Wednesday I’ll play for £10,000 a week’.
“For Vardy’s next move, he might even be thinking of finishing his career outside of England.
“It’s just a non-starter this one, and it will remain what it always was with that romantic notion. It’s not going to happen.”
Jamie Vardy has spoken of his love for Sheffield Wednesday – a move still seems unlikely
Vardy clearly still holds a lot of affection for Wednesday, despite never having played a professional game for the club, but it does seem pretty improbable that he ends up at Hillsborough this summer considering other potential offers that he may receive.
A good measure of how much of an Owls’ supporter he has remained throughout his football career is his attitude towards cross-city rivals Sheffield United, and it is fair to say there has been no love lost between Blades fans and Vardy over the years, so much so that he referred to the Foxes’ trips to play at Bramall Lane as “abuse Vardy day” in a 2018 interview.
| Jamie Vardy’s Leicester City career record (2012-present) | |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 496 |
| Goals | 198 |
| Assists | 69 |
| Honours (team) |
|
The iconic striker also spoke of his love for Wednesday publicly back in 2020, and it is clear that he harboured some intention of returning, but whether that will happen now is unclear.
“It meant everything to me, being a Wednesday fan. That’s all I thought I was going to be back then, I thought I was going to be a Sheffield Wednesday player,” he told BT Sport, via The Star.
“It didn’t work out that way, things take their own route for a reason and it was a setback which I had to use to better myself. Playing with the shirt on even at the academy growing up, it really did feel special that you supported the club.
“They were great times, being able to go to some of the games when I was younger, obviously, when you get older you realise just how much football means to everyone.
“Me and my mates used to play at the exit gates for the away fans at the stadium, I don’t think that went down too well – they had to re-paint it every so often! But it was just about playing as much as you can.”
Five years on, and it seems unlikely that any of the 38-year-old’s fondness for the Owls will have dissipated, even after he netted against them in a 2-0 win at the King Power Stadium in the Championship last season.
Whether he will make a long-awaited return to Wednesday this summer remains to be seen, but with their obvious financial difficulties and Vardy’s potential for a big-money move abroad, it does seem like a pipe dream that may never be fulfilled at this stage of his career.
Discussion about this post