Guardian journalist Stuart James is reporting this evening that Arsenal have triggered Jamie Vardy’s release clause.
The 29 year old helped fire Leicester City to the Premier League title last season, scoring 20 24 26 lots of goals as Claudio Ranieri’s side did what was thought to be impossible and won the league.
With Arsenal on the lookout for a new striker, the story goes that Arsene Wenger has offered the £20m it would take to make him an Arsenal player.
Vardy is reportedly keen on a move, but Leicester, understandably, are keen to keep a player whose rise from lower leagues has been meteoric.
It still seems a little weird, so we’re erring on the side of doubt when it comes to this one, giving it a good 6 on the Poo-o-Meter.
Still, there seems to be something going on. So let’s see what happens.
This makes no sense.
Wenger wants a centre forward, that is no secret, Vardy fits the bill and is available at a relatively reasonable price.
It is not a typical Wenger signing, but neither was Ozil or Cech.
Ozil and Cech have class. Vardy is disgusting.
Wenger tried to sign Suarez.
Suarez is 10x better
As much as it is refreshing to see us being in for a striker this early in the window, but I am the only one who is, a little bit underwhelmed in this attempt to sign Vardy? Like yeah okay, he obviously had a great season, but he is 30 next year, kind of get the impression he has hit the peak of his powers. A little bit worried he could be fucking shite for us because of how different our offensive approach play is in comparison to Leicester’s, and lets face it, its not like Arsene really has the… Read more »
£20M for the second highest scorer right now in the premier league? Yes thanks.
Kane would cost £70m to get sp*rs to sell.
Just for comparison. If Liverpool were going after Vardy we’d all be jealous while Arsene signs another French 16 year old for the future.
Vardy= goals NOW. And cheap.
He’s a cunt, but if he signs….he’ll be our cunt.
This is probably a fair point
Much the same with Dat Guy Welbz, I wasn’t keen on signing him – granted, he hasn’t been out racially abusing people to my knowledge – but I’m gutted he’s injured now.
I think had Welbz been fit we would be looking at the ‘young with potential option’, but vardy has scored a lot of goals in the last season and a half…does hit the target a lot
Vardy has scored a lot of goals in the last season and a half? Last year he got 24 (amazing return to be fair), but the season before he scored 5. Absolutely nowhere near the class required for Arsenal, both on and off the pitch.
Something that popped up a while ago actually:
Someone here (or the main site arses maybe?) complained that “since signing for Barca and Chelsea, Fabregas has become a whiny bitch”.
Fact is, he always was one. We just didn’t notice, or mind as much when he was _our_ whiny bitch, inside the tent pissing outwards.
Piers Moron has given it his blessing, so that’s confirmation Vardy is disgusting!
It’s not about class (or what you think about Vardy as a person), it’s about how we play. Vardy scored goals from quick, direct attacks. And he was often tearing through acres of space with just 1 or 2 defenders to beat.
We have to find shots with 10-men packed inside 20 yards. Not sure how he helps with that.
Look at his goals from the season, he is not as one dimensional as you make him out to be.
Okay, I did. And I originally posted a link to the youtube vid with all of his goals, but the comment didn’t post (maybe because of the link but it’s easy to find… Think it’s called “Lots of Goals Set to Crap Music”). Of Vardy’s 24 goals, they fit almost cleanly into 3 categories, which in itself is kinda peculiar. But there are (number he scored in parenthesis): 1. Penalties (5 and I believe he won all 5 he scored) 2. Open play goals from around the edge of the 6 (8 of these). 3. Counter-esque with only a defender… Read more »
We may well be doing a whole lot more counter attacking next season.
Lots of goals set to crap music: awesome
Ack… ‘Your categorization’ not ‘You’re categorization’.
Your a grammar Nazi.
I watched his video a couple of times and had it as 10 non-counter attack, 10 counter attack, 5 penalties and 1 I could not decide on, so he is clearly not just a counter attack forward. Plus we do have chances on the counter attack. He is a very different type of striker to Giroud, some games you will want Giroud, some Vardy. Wenger has struggled to get that striker he wants, I doubt that Vardy is his first choice, but if Wenger thinks that Vardy provides a style Arsenal can capitalise on, then why not get him? Who… Read more »
Exactly. It’s left field but who cares? He carried his team. End of. Much, much prefer him to the Zlatan nonsense. And who cares if he’s a cunt. We need more on the team anyway.
10+10+5+1 = 26
Vardy only scored 24. And if you’re bifurcating between counter and non-counter, it’s not like you’ve got overlapping categories.
The video I saw had his two goals for England, hence 26 goals and not 24.
Cape Town Gooner: It was my own comment.
Against the top teams like Barca and Bayern et al we often times are the ones ceding possession, and having to attack on the counter. This addresses this issue for sure. I see your point about league play in terms of parked busses, but he’s still a good player at a reasonable price.
If that’s the only worry, why not just keep Theo to play up top?
Seriously, I’d rather we tried Sanchez up front than get Vardy. Offers everything he does as a striker and a lot more.
Except Sanchez wasted a lot of chances this year, and Vardy not so much.
Clearly Sanchez is a quality player, but it still rankles that as a senior player he complained about ‘hunger’, whilst personally being extremely wasteful of his minutes on the pitch. Giroud was pretty much condemned for similar profligacy.
“If that’s the only worry, why not just keep Theo to play up top?” Because Walcott cannot play to the standard required in that role. Even if there’s a concern about the fact that Vardy only has one top-notch season behind him, one season is still comfortably longer than Walcott’s longest run of decent form. I really don’t see the pursuit of Vardy as being hugely baffling from a tactical perspective. First, as Murica and others in the comments section have pointed out, Wenger has tried to get his team playing more effectively on the counter, so Vardy fits the… Read more »
Perhaps we need to stop playing like that … it’s not fun to watch is it
The guy is going to be 30 next year. Decent striker but has no time to adapt to Arsenal and he’s not the likes of Ibrahimovic (I think we stand a good chance to sign him if Arsene wants him – Man Utd have no Champs League). I reckon if Arsenal did make an approach for Vardy, it was to secure a backup in case other negotiations go south. Unless someone grabs him before deadline day, we’ll have an idea of whether Leicester is willing to part with him and if it comes to it, i’d rather have Vardy than… Read more »
What makes no sense is not signing any outfield player. I would take Vardy over nobody.
Thank you! Some people will cry if we don’t sign a world class striker but then also cry when he can’t sign anyone else.
Sometimes just take the Vardy, and shut up!
If this is really happening, I think Arsene has decided that Welbeck will be our main striker for years to come once he’s fit again and so he doesn’t want to “kill” him. Vardy seems like a short term fix until then.
If he wants a short term fix, Higuain is also 29.
More expensive.
But yeah, much better.
You are looking at £50-60m for Higuain. You could get a top quality centre half + Vardy for the same price as him.
Also no prem experience with Higuain. Although I’m not convinced about Vardy at all not just at how true the stories are but im worried about him not reaching the hights of last season.
WHY is it always about the money!? What are we saving up for? Dystopia? When did the fifth most profitable club in the world need to worry about Vardy vs. Higuain from a money point of view? Should we not be saying: ‘Locate best player for x position. Buy player.’?
Wenger is still Wenger and spending nearly triple the money on Higuain will probably not represent value. We might be a rich club, but we do not have unlimited funds.
Holyviper, the money talk is absolutely infuriating. People also overlook the fact that Gazidis himself said that bar the Messi-Neymar types, we can afford to pay for almost anyone now.
Higuain has been terrible as an international. He missed sitters in key spots in the WC. Plus Higuain has HFB speed. Better on the ball but would get kicked to death. Vardy is a horrible person but he tracks back and kicks the shite out of people while not getting carded. We need more of that. As someone noted above he’s a shit, but he’d be our shit. Plus its a two year fix. Hold your nose when not cheering. Everyone wanted a striker. We are trying to obtain a striker we might be able to obtain. Are you saying… Read more »
Spot on with all your points, and very funny too!
If we were to buy a 29 year old player, I would rather we go for someone with premier league experience. Players take time to adapt, you know, and at 29, you don’t have a lot of time for that.
Of course, unless we are talking about messi, ronaldo or Ibra, things can be different.
It usually takes them a season to adapt to the team anyway. So PL experience, although a benefit, doesn’t guarantee an immediate return. Vardy has been at Leicester for 4 season and had 1 excellent year, one decent year and 2 poor seasons.
Saying vardy has had just one excellent year is utter bullocks.. Leicester has had only one excellent year actually.. Mahrez and Kante also has just one excellent year.. it is worthy of note however, that Jamie vardy was back-up striker to Ulloa just last season
I think Walcott is being shipped finally. We need to replace him with an English player, because, going by the other rumors, Gibbs may leave as well.
Vardy is better than Walcott in my opinion. He knows how to finish, helps defenders and has more hunger.
He has hunger at Leicester; all Ranieri’s players had hunger last season. Doesn’t mean he’d retain it for long with us, however, since lack of hunger and focus has been a problem for quite some time – as Sanchez has found. Why would Vardy want to leave Leicester where he has an excellent manager, excellent hardworking team-mates whom he has gelled with – and Leicester’s scouting is such that I bet they’ll be bringing in more – plus a more winnable CL group than we will be getting? Double the wages, that’s why. Brilliant. A mercenary, disloyal, 29-year-old racist costing… Read more »
I would take a Vardy for a Walcot though.
I would take a tenner for a Walcott
Pavarotti could do things with a ball Walcott can’t even begin to imagine.
I also thought this made no sense, until I read on his Wikipedia page that when he was playing non-league football, he worked a job as a technician making medical splints.
Sounds like a perfect fit for Arsenal. Welcome, Jamie!
Would take a Vardy for a Walcott.
There are more than one of each?
I wouldn’t go that far. But it is certainly a bit out of left field. Leicester play nothing like Arsenal do, and the guy is 29. He’s also not exactly what you normally associate with the club in terms of personal class. It would definitely be a risky signing in those ways. That said, he is the ONLY proven PL striker who is realistically available, and the price is not a bad one if true. We terribly missed having a clinical striker last season, and he is clinical. He’s also English, so if we sold Walcott he’d be a direct… Read more »
If we’re taking risks on english strikers, might as well go for Strurridge.
Yeah, we could fill in the gap from one incredibly injury-prone English striker who is out for the season with another incredibly injury-prone English striker who had serious fitness issues last season. That would be a great plan.
Such negativity. You fill a position with enough injury prone players, one of them is bound to be available at any given time. It’s the law of nature.
Is Lukaku not available? Is he gone to Chelsea? I’d do 40+ mil for him.
Would take lukaku over vardy at double the price. Vardy fits the bill economically, but not really in any other way – in particular the whole racism thing.
Can’t help but feel this is another mess of our own making, and an example of the false economy created by Wenger refusing to pay what he feels a player is worth – if we’d simply paid what RM wanted for higuain a few years ago, we’d have one of the best strikers in Europe on our books (and who knows what else in terms of trophies…)
I would rather have Bendtner back than have Lukaku, he has the worst first touch any striker can have.
If buy Vardy and sell him away immediately to Liverpool – Benteke will be free to go to a prestigious club where he probably will have more playing time while does not need to move too far either.
On the other hand: this prestigious club will be able to let somebody leave, who mentioned many times that he would like to fight for titles…
Why do not we buy Mahrez instead, young and quick, I would rate him 30mn pound.
Well that’s unexpected. But if he does have a £20m release clause, he fits our economic profile for sure.
Vardy doesn’t seem like a Wenger player, and I don’t think he’ll fit in with a side that dominates possession like we do. I find this hard to believe, and suspect Vardy and/or his agent are just driving up demand with rumour-mongering.
Also, Vardy seems like kind of a cunt to me, so I hope on a personal level it’s not true either. We need a new, better option up front, but Vardy’s not it.
He may be a cunt yes,but he is a talented cunt.
for Reference look up suarez aka bitey.
Yeah… I’d have Vardy over Suarez any day. Suarez is a whole new level of c*nt.
Another tough player would be very welcome.
I’m quite excited about the prospect. Even if he’s not a 40 million pound striker.
I can see him kicking a bit of arse.
God, I hope this isn’t true, Vardy is vile, there must be better out there, this is like a sick joke.
And who is it in your opinion? I’m curious. Because aside from his personality he’s a player that scored 24 league goals last season which is about 42% of Giroud’s league goals since he’s joined us in 2012.
And you probably say that Morata isn’t proven, and hasn’t performed brilliantly in Italy, despite the fact that that was also case with Thierry and Dennis to some extent.
So please tell me, who would you want that we could realistically get?
Someone whose not a village simpleton and racist?
Carlton Cole fits the bill ?
Lukaku is surely available. More expensive, but younger, premier league proven, just plain better and not such a cunt
Araenal4Life, how about Mahrez?
Looking at this thread i can say that a good 40% of Arsenal fans are greedy cunts and on top of that most of them are judgemental.What is wrong with signing vardy? Zlatan is 34 and you want him, Vardy is 29 and he is ‘too old’.I know for a fact that many here fucking wanted lacazette not long ago. Fuck you guys. I’ll take vardy.Greedy fans are the reason we don’t win the league.Period. Wenger is totally right in saying he cannot satisfy every fan.
Is Ornstein not also reporting it now though?
We just signed our new Arteta, who is good at pinging those long passes. Ozil was great at feeding quick strikers at RM. Alexis seems to do best in counter-attacking teams as well.
I am not sure it’s as crazy an idea as some people seem to think. We’d have to play different with Vardy but we do have the personnel to do it.
Smokescreen, surely. Get a bidding war started and then nip in elsewhere whilst everyone’s distracted. Surely…
BBC and Sky are reporting it too, that usually means there’s something in it
Hopefully this is just a smokescreen for finally getting the ever elusive, divine Salomon Kalou.
I heard we’re finally signing Sebastian Frey to sort out our reserve goalkeeper issues.
Arsenal supposedly also triggered the release clause for Suarez a couple of years ago …
We couldn’t get a bitey racist so we’ve decided to go for a non-bitey racist instead.
Can’t have everything I suppose
Couldn’t get a bitey racist diver so we’ve decided to go for a non-bitey racist diver.
An ultra-quick, direct, clinical finisher who scores buckets of goals and just led his team to the league title? You’re right. Makes no sense at all.
Please don’t let this happen. For fucks sake.
Why?
Vardy is very quick, and can finish. However technically I do wonder if he can keep up with the likes of Ozil, Sanchez Carzola and co. For he came and proved me wrong then I’d happily recind my comments but just skeptical after just one prolific season he isn’t a one season wonder.
What and Theo does? Strikers don’t need to be super technically proficient they need to find space and convert chances. From what I saw last season he’s as technique is good and he’s great a finding space.
Strkr’s a good app!
Well done
His photos were taken from deceptive angles, though.
No thanks, we already have enough overrated British muppets in our team.
To be one of those who just wishes and has no capability of doing anything, I wish we would try and get Kane to come over to the light and leave the dark side of the force. I think the force is strong with that one.
I’d rather we didn’t, but the thought process is understandable. About the same price as Welbeck for a 20+ goal striker.
Playing that counter attack style we adopt in games against bigger teams would suit Vardy perfectly. An ample outlet while the rest hold onto the handbrake.
Didn’t realise we had a handbrake. Must be one of those new push button ones
Sure we do or at least we did. It’s code for a lack of belief but I hope it’s a thing of the past
Also a great reason for Giroud to be super sub/starter against lower league opposition where he can ‘flat-track bully’
How about Giroud flicking balls through for Vardy to run on to in a 442 formation? Could be a deadly outlet
It would be a very very smart signing if wenger can pull it off.Premier league tested,at his prime,2-3 good years ahead of him,low price comparatively and who else is available?? for this small price.This is a gamble sure,maybe one hit wonder but man! he played damn well this season.For me this will be the perfect signing if it goes through.
Did we offer £20m + £1.00?
£20m + lifetime supply of party poppers + an English language teacher, and possibly a new face. But the last one remains unconfirmed.
When alls said and done id rather have him in the team than theo
Probably worth 20+ goals even taking everything else into account, for £20m? Any of our other options are much more expensive, assuming they even want to join.
He’s not a clear fit obviously, but this can’t be a bad signing. If it’s true.
He just thrived in a team that plays the exact opposite style of football of us.
Wenger would need to rework his entire philosophy and vardy would have to not rely on penalties because Arsenal don’t get em.
He does kick the ball extremely hard and true.
This actually appears to be happening, in some respect.
Whether or not it’s a smokescreen, we’ve triggered the release clause. BBC, Sky, Ornstein… very reliable sources.
If the release clause is at 20m its totally worth it, makes sense to me.
Jeebus……. Has it come to this…..this shit….
If he does come to us then he needs to stop diving……the ref wont give him fuck all anyway with our shirt on his back
Only red cards.
Maybe he’s a short term fix? Cover as Welbeck is out injured, and Wenger can’t find any other “value on the market”?
I am getting a strong whiff of Francis Jeffers about this one mind you….
That was the name that sprang to mind for me too…
We have yearning for a speedy striker with superb finishing ability like Vardy. I can’t wait for him to sign. It’s no brainer. It’s like Arsene means business, this time around. Xhaka, Vardy, and probably Rodrizigues. What a summer!
This only makes sense in a “signing Clive Allen for 1.25m in 1980, then swapping him for kenny sansom a few days later” making sense. Maybe we are buying him to swap for a left back?
There isn’t wall to wall world class strikers out there but Wenger has been trying to up our racist cunt quotient ever since he tried to sign Suarez.
Maybe successful teams need one. Barce, Leicester, Chelsea, Chelsea again.
We shoul build our own racists rather than buy them.
It’s the Academy’s fault. Maybe hire John Terry.
Excuse me, just vomited on your shoes.
????
This really makes no sense. Please please please
Maybe wengers swapping him and 20 mill for lukaku.
Lukaku is Giroud. We already have one.
Lukaku is far superior to Giroud & only just turned 23.
But Lukaku plays the same as Giroud but his link up play is no where near as good! Sorry Lukaku is not the player we need. Talented? No doubt, but he would not improve or change us.
Vardy however? I hate the guy but he would give us a different option, pace and directness versus Giroud’s lack of pace and awesome link up play.
Honestly people criticise we have no plan b, now we appear to be finding one and people complain! Benzema is an even worse character and Higuain would also offer a lack of pace.
Not saying he’s my first choice, but other than age, I don’t understand why many folks prefer Morata, especially if the goal is to win the league now.
Such a random story, I hope he doesn’t end up our marquee striker signing, regardless of his goal haul he doesn’t fit the bill for me.
Btw,Blogs why are my comments always moderated?
I really don’t understand this, he’s had one decent season in the premier league, he’s 29 & we are going to pay 20 million? I really didn’t see how he fits into how we play, teams defend narrow & deep against us, then smack it upfront for a big man to chase when they clear it, Vardy is hardly going to help in this regard. If you are going to change the way we play and adopt a counter attacking style then you already have Walcott. I really hope this doesnt go through. It also says to me that this… Read more »
but Walcott isn’t performing to the requisite level of late when we do fashion counter-attacking situations.
Surely the answer then is better coaching & work with Walcott to get the fire in his belly.
Do you really dump him for a 29 year old with one decent season in the premier league?
To be fair, that’s one more decent season than Walcott’s had in the Premier League…
As an English player too, if the move were to happen it would allow Theo to go on his merry way. Must admit that I like the idea.
They’ve been working on Walcott for 10 years.
To very little effect
They’ve tried to get fire in Walcott’s belly for 10 years.
Unfortunately, all they found in his belly is poo.
And of course you dump Walcott, especially if West Ham or some other nouveau riche Prem club wants to pay 20+ million pounds for him, like the rumour went awhile back.
Vardy or Walcott… I know which one I’d prefer.
How many years does it take to see Walcott is not good at football?
24 league goals is a bit better than decent. He also brings a winning attitude. Wenger likes players who will kill to win. Vardy is certainly that. He’ll kick, claw and run all day. We need more of that. Sanchez did it his first year, but not his second. Nobody went with him. Maybe this gives us a critical mass of killers.
He will be a nice addition to our attack but at age 29, it just doesn’t seem like something Arsene would sanction. With his all out running style and age, I’m worried that Vardy will be collecting his nice and improved pay packet in the treatment room with Danny rather than being on the pitch.
Oh God please don’t let this happen, this would be a terrible signing.
His rise, like an overweight Viking, was meaty Yorik…
I thank you…
Weird in what sense?
He’s probably at his peak and has pace, and scores goals. There are many reasons for us to sign him. As he’s risen from non-league, he should be a little street smart, which is a great quality for a striker. Morata scored lesser goals, but he excites a lot of people why- because he’s Spanish, young and very technical probably. Vardy, just because he doesn’t come from a big club and isn’t that 50m striker gets negative comments. Funny! Welbeck is literally out for the season. I believe we’ll need two more strikers apart from Giroud. I’d absolutely love to… Read more »
And since when did we sign cheating racist cunts? Fucking hell I hope this doesn’t go through.
So I suppose you would’ve said no to Suarez had we actually signed him?
There’s alot of people saying similiar and comparing his personality to Suarez but our arsenal team does lack grit, detremination and dare i say it bite! Maybe with these qualities we won’t fall apart at crucial moments
Very unexpected and a weird signing if true. Doesn’t fit style of play, but no doubt he is a great finisher.
How many times this year have we lost games due to not being clinical enough.
Could be great goalscorer for us or get lost in the team due to the way teams set up against us. Intrigued non the less
Do we really need a racist cheat playing for us?
Seriously?
If you were to take the phone off everyone you knew and looked at their texts and social media comments over 50% will have said something racist and homophones in their recent history
Players are allowed to make mistakes too you know. Get off your fucking high horse
It doesn’t make it right even if the ‘majority’ do it.
I passionately hate racism and I think Vardy has learnt his lesson from that event and served his punishments for it.
Exactly the type of striker we’ve been longing for. Remove the fact that he’s English and plays for Leicester, we’d be overjoyed at the link to such a player. Direct, quick, great finisher, in his prime…
another Ian Wright??…. signed later in career and peak of his powers…£20m is a decent price in this market and hopefully we sign Morata as well or a biggish name…. like Jay Emmanuel Thomas…
If sky and BBC are reporting it as well as others then the chances are it’s pretty concrete. It’s out of the blue which is typical of Wenger. Will he fit or won’t he who knows personally I think he’d make a good signing. Ozil is always looking for the early ball in behind and we haven’t got that central runner that’s clinical with pace. With his pace I can see him as an option out wide too, playing group centrally. Wouldn’t say he was a cunt at all either he works fucking hard for his team mates with Sanchez… Read more »
Wenger is always right. You can’t satisfy everyone. This is the reason the LCFC vice-chairman gave as to why Vardy wasn’t performing.
‘According to Leicester vice-chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, Vardy drank heavily every night during his early days at the club, and would turn up at training still intoxicated. Srivaddhanaprabha discussed with Vardy over what he expected in his life, and Vardy gave up drinking and took training more seriously from then on.’
He sure is going to score lots of goals for us in the next 3 years.
WTF…can we do no better than freaking Jamie Vardy???
Arsenal fans are funny, you have a proven premier league goal scorer willing to join our club and you don’t want, please… Just imagine him getting through to Ozil’s passes, he’s also a very very good finisher, what’s there not to like. People are talking about age, but Vardy seem like those player who will be good till their early 30’s. Sign him up i say
Well at least we’d get a lot more penalties next season
Mixed feelings about this one but could turn out to be a very good signing …
Great signing. Lethal, ruthless and an edge. We’re too nice
He’ll tin his arse off like Sanchez and him running off ozils delivery will be a delight
Don’t see what people’s problem is. He’s finisher that’s for sure. Also he’s a spikey annoying cunt. With Granit, it’s just what this fucking team needs.
Elneny wins the ball on the edge of the box against kane in a crunching challenge and then quickly cuts it back to Xhaka who pings a first time left footed chip over the top to vardy who takes it around the onrushing Lloris and slots it in bottom corner. Giving arsenal the title on the final day of the season at the Emirates and knocking spurs out of the champions league spots to 4th place Leicester. Ye wouldn’t be complaining about racism then I’d say!
Sir Alex won the league with RVP, Wenger can win it with Vardy….
Can you imagine Leicester trying to survive in the champs league if they got nicked of Vardy, and then possibly Mahrez if he don’t feel like sticking around?
Personally I liked the Morata rumors more. Better technically and could keep up with the quick linkup play arsenal play around the box. BUT we’ve been asking for a prolific striker for years and I guess Vardy fits the bill…?