Is Jamie Vardy finished as a Premier League force?
Say it ain’t so. Like the death of a beloved family pet, you know it’s coming one day – but that doesn’t make it any easier. At 36, has Leicester City’s greatest ever player really had his last dance in blue? Our writers do their best to negotiate the impossible question…
I think the answer is probably yes, although the struggle faced by all our strikers this season points to a deep-seated structural problem with the way the team is being set up. It would be easy to pin Vardy’s poor form on his age and losing his pace, and there’s definitely an element of that.
But the overall balance hasn’t been right all season, which makes it hard to blame individuals for not living up to the standards they’ve set. Of players who were at the club prior to the summer, which is obviously most of them, only James Maddison has maintained his form from previous seasons.
That’s led to deserved criticism of Brendan Rodgers not improving anyone other than Maddison. Despite coaching supposedly being his strong point, he’s also massively inflexible and a lot of players suffer within his system. It means the same approach for almost every game. Even if we have an injury crisis. Even if Amartey has the ball at his feet with no obvious passing options. Even if we sign Jannik Vestergaard.
Being shoehorned into a system will affect everyone it doesn’t naturally suit, even if you can most visibly see the effect it has on players like Amartey. It’s bound to have affected Vardy too. Even a slight drop in form in the context of the current environment takes him pretty swiftly from the guy who dug us out of a hole on a regular basis to essentially useless.
I still think Vardy could offer something because I maintain that his all-round game has always been underrated and he’s had more than just pace for a long time. But I’m not convinced Rodgers knows how to get it out of him, so I have to conclude, as I’m sure most others have, that our greatest ever striker’s time is up at this level.
David Bevan
I am certain there is one last dance in Vardy. It’s hard to see it on recent performances, but I'm sure it's there.
Under Claude Puel, Vardy was being phased out – even Demarai Gray was being preferred up front to him(!) – but when it went stale and we got Rodgers in, it reinvigorated him.
I see lots of parallels to that scenario. If nothing else, I want to see the change in manager to see how Vardy comes back from it. It might be false hope, and that I just don't want to accept it, but seeing Vardy finish his career here this way – getting abuse from opposition fans about his wife without being able to give it back because he doesn't score – makes me so sad.
Get a new manager and him up top in a two, and I'm here for five goals from him to keep us up. Regardless, he'll always be the king.
Becky Taylor
Yes. Vardy has aged like an NFL quarterback: he was elite until the moment he wasn't. There was no gradual decline – the ageing process happened all at once. He looks so far off his old standard now that it's hard to believe he still gets games.
And like a quarterback, it's not purely a physical decline. That's obviously the main driver: he's lost his pace, and with it his ability to nip in front of defenders or beat a centre-back to the ball. But he's clearly lost his mental edge as well. He doesn't get into dangerous areas, he rarely makes clever runs, he hardly ever even has a shot. He's just there on the periphery of every game, without the ability to suddenly explode into life.
Assuming his wife's mad antics and the collapse of his American team haven't bankrupted the man, these are surely the final few weeks of Vardy as a professional footballer. I just hope the final scene in the movie isn't him missing a penalty on the final day, where we plunge into the Championship as the screen fades to black.
James Knight
You can never write off the greatest player in our history, but at 36 and with just one goal from 27 appearances (albeit 16 off the bench), I think it's safe to say that sadly the time has come for us to move on.
He’s still got a year remaining on his contract, and with him being the club's highest earner, I'm not sure it suits either party for him to stay beyond this season whatever division we’re in. I always felt he would turn into a Tony Cottee or Kevin Phillips style poacher, but sadly it seems he is entirely reliant on his pace and he has definitely lost a yard or two.
None of our strikers have been prolific this season, but even with two up front, I think Iheanacho and Daka are better options currently. If we were to go down, it would be a sad way to part company unless he could cement his legacy by firing us straight back up – but I'm more hopeful that he still has a cameo off the bench to score another couple and keep us up.
Jordan Halford
After 10 glorious years as our No.9, this season really hasn't gone well for the GOAT. Last season was actually one of his best for us, with 15 open play goals in just 20 games. However, for the first time there were a number of niggling injuries which maybe should have had alarm bells ringing.
When Vardy has played, I still think there is pace there, but he just doesn't look as sharp. He's not making the runs he used to and defenders don't seem as worried by him. He’s also missed a number of chances, which is really unlike him.
The sad fact is, we look very average up front without Vardy's X-factor. But would he fare better if the team as a whole were better, or if we had a new manager? Maybe, but I’m really not confident about that.
Then there’s Wagatha Christie. With the struggles we've had this season, I'd have liked to have seen some rallying cries from Jamie, but it feels like both him and his wife are (understandably) avoiding the limelight. It can't have been a happy home over the summer.
The other problem is the two-year contract he signed last summer - it already looks a year too long. He is still our highest earner, which causes a real headache as we really need that wage going to 'the difference maker' he always used to be. It's a huge salary for the odd cameo off the bench.
And yet, I still think there's another page or two to be added to the Vardy movie script. Despite everything I've written above, it just can’t end like this. There's got to be a late winner to save the season… surely?
Iain Wright
