Arsene Wenger and Arsenal have been unable to convince England striker Jamie Vardy to leave Leicester City for the Emirates and as a result the England striker has left for the Euros with his future very much undecided.
Arsenal had triggered the £20 million release clause in Vardy’s contract and offered to double his current wages to around £120,000 a week.
But still that was not enough as the striker reportedly feels loyalty to the champions who plucked him from non-league football just four years ago.
Leicester are said to be determined to keep hold of Vardy, and are reportedly offering to make him the highest paid player in club history at around £100,000 per week in counter to Arsenal’s six-figure proposal.
That Wenger is pursuing Vardy in the first place is noteworthy as the signing of the 29-year-old striker would be a transfer without any real precedent in Wenger’s entire 20 years at Arsenal. His next biggest outlays for outfield players above the age of 29 have been Mikel Arteta and Sebastian Squillaci at respectively £10 million and £4 million.
But Wenger does have inside information on Vardy? Early this year, Ben Wrigglesworth joined Arsenal as an analyst from Leicester City. The checks that will have been made on Vardy’s wider ‘data’ will be extensive and, although Leicester’s counter-attacking style is very different to that of Arsenal, there is a feeling that he can play as the most advanced striker and adapt to a style of football that is more about shorter, angled passing that the direct patterns that were virtually perfected this year by Claudio Ranieri’s team.
