What Jamie Vardy said about rejecting Arsenal in 2016 as Premier League legend bids farewell to Leicester City

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After winning the Premier League with Leicester City in the 2015/16 campaign, Jamie Vardy was the subject of serious interest from Arsenal.

The former England international scored 24 goals in 36 top flight games that campaign, Leicester ultimately finishing 10 points ahead of the Gunners at the top of the Premier League table.

As a result, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was keen to sign Vardy to bolster his own forward line, even activating Vardy’s release clause.

However, Vardy rejected the chance to move to North London, making his feelings very clear at the time.

Jamie Vardy on the ‘easy’ decision to reject Arsenal

Speaking to Sky Sports News ahead of the 2016/17 season, Vardy was quizzed on why he chose to stay at Leicester.

In response, the 38-year-old said: “Obviously, it’s not been put out there [by the media] that I’ve always said that the [Leicester] boys are close-knit. The brotherhood is unbelievable.”

Vardy then added what can be interpreted as a subtle dig at Arsenal, stating: “And me personally, there’s a lot of unfinished business here at Leicester. The club is only going one way, and that’s forward. And that’s what I want to be part of.”

The striker concluded that the decision to reject Arsenal “wasn’t that big. When I think about everything, it was quite easy, and [Leicester] is where I wanted to be.”

It was a bitter blow to Wenger, Arsenal opting to sign Lucas Perez instead as a result.

Why Jamie Vardy wouldn’t have been as successful at Arsenal as he has been at Leicester

Considered by many to be Leicester’s greatest ever player, Vardy has a good claim to be a Premier League legend as well.

Despite only making his top flight debut in 2014 at the age of 27, the Englishman has gone on to score 144 Premier League goals, putting him 14^th in the all-time list, level with Robin van Persie.

That being said, it is unlikely he would have been as prolific had he made the move to the Emirates.

Leicester’s counter-attacking style was made for Vardy, the striker able to use his pace to exploit large spaces in behind opposition defences.

Arsenal, by contrast, had long been based on a philosophy of possession football under Wenger, with defending teams often dropping deep as a result.

Consequently, at Arsenal, there wouldn’t have been the same space for Vardy to exploit.

Still, set for his final appearance for Leicester against Ipswich Town, Gunners fans may wonder if Arsenal’s fortunes would have turned out differently had they signed the Englishman.