As Arsenal prepare to take on Leicester City in the Premier League, Jamie Vardy could prove to be the main antagonist to the Gunners once again.
The striker has managed to score 11 goals in 17 appearances against Arsenal, becoming a true thorn in their side.
That could’ve been so different for Jamie Vardy, who came close to moving to the Emirates Stadium in 2016.
Arsene Wenger pushed hard to land the England international following Leicester’s Premier League title triumph, with his scoring record speaking for itself.
With a move falling through, Vardy has stayed on at Leicester and could go on to haunt his former suitors once again.
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Arsene Wenger on why Jamie Vardy didn’t make Arsenal transfer in 2016
Arsenal made a push to sign Jamie Vardy from Leicester in 2016, with the Gunners looking to land the striker to mix up the available options.
Olivier Giroud was the starting centre-forward at the time but had a different profile to that of Vardy.
The inclusion of the Leicester marksman was seen as an opportunity to vary the tactical options available to Wenger.
Instead, the move never went through and Arsenal never went that step closer to the Premier League title under the legendary manager.
Speaking about the move that never was, Wenger said on beIN Sports in 2021: “I offered him a lot of money at the time. Leicester had just won the championship in 2016, and [Vichai] Srivaddhanaprabha at the time, who unfortunately after had the helicopter accident, did absolutely not want to lose him and they offered him a longer contract and approximately the same money, if not more.”
On how he would’ve fit at Arsenal, he added: “We had more of the ball [than Leicester], yes, but still around the box, the timings of his runs, he finds the space.
“When you see the big strikers, they’re on the move when others stand still in the box, and he has that.
“You see they read [the game] earlier than others, they anticipate better, they understand quicker than other people what’s going on, and [he had] that quality of anticipation, that speed of understanding.”
It’s unclear what an Arsenal side would’ve been like with Vardy in the ranks, remaining one of the great “what if?” stories of recent history.
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Jamie Vardy reveals why he never joined Arsenal
Vardy has since spoken up about the move as well, revealing his thoughts on it back in 2016 to Sky Sports.
“I am not going to beat around the bush – every time I thought about it, and every aspect of it I thought about, both my head and my heart were saying to stay, which is why I made my decision to stay,” he claimed at the time,
“Deep down if you don’t think it is the right move for you, you don’t do it. It is as simple as that. You get that much time to think about every single thing down to the tea lady.
“You think about what might happen, what might not, where you could be, where not. Every time I thought about every little thing, both head and heart were saying, ‘You need to stay’.
“In my professional life, it was the hardest decision. It was hard but, like I said, when it came to my head and my heart it was an easy decision.”
Sometimes a move simply doesn’t work out and while it seemed to be one Arsenal could’ve got over the line, it simply wasn’t to be.
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