Vardy reveals he rejected Arsenal move over tactics

Matt Stead

Jamie Vardy has revealed that tactical motives were behind his decision to reject a move to Arsenal this summer.

Arsenal launched a £20million bid to sign the Leicester striker in June, and it is believed that Vardy strongly considered the move.

However, the 29-year-old forward decided to commit his future to Leicester, signing a new four-year contract during Euro 2016, thereby turning Arsenal down.

Vardy has since discussed his decision to reject the Gunners, but has gone into more depth in his upcoming autobiography, ‘From Nowhere, My Story’.

‘With people like Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil creating chances, Arsenal felt they could benefit me as much as I could them,’ he writes.

‘But I also thought about the tactical aspect.

‘You look at Arsenal’s style of play and they don’t get the ball forward quickly in the same way Leicester do for those runs I like to make in behind the defence.

‘One thing that didn’t worry me was the idea that I wouldn’t be the ‘main man’ at Arsenal.

‘We even looked at new schools for the children, but I got to the stage where I felt with my heart and head that I wanted to stay at Leicester.

‘Players always come and go. It was more a case of seeing Leicester as a club that wanted to build on what we achieved with the title and I want to be part of that.

‘I’m happy with how everything has turned out.’