Claudio Ranieri’s Comments On Jamie Vardy’s Injury Cause Concern
Jamie Vardy is the Cinderella Story of the Premier League through 12 games. If anyone outside of Vardy’s immediate family tells you they saw this run of form coming then immediately call them a liar. However, Claudio Ranieri’s comments about Vardy and the status of his hip have me very concerned that the Cinderella story may soon become a nightmare for Leicester City’s hero.
Ranieri is not one to speak in straight forward fashion. He’s a bit of an eccentric by all accounts so we’re forced to really examine his words to understand their true meaning. That’s what makes his recent comments to the Shield Gazette so troubling for Leicester fans.
At first glance, Ranieri’s comments seem to downplay any concerns about Vardy’s injury. He clearly believes that his striker will be available for the Newcastle match this weekend. That much is good news for the Foxes.
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Sadly, upon closer examination there’s quite a bit of cause for concern. While Ranieri asserts that there’s no need for Vardy to have a hip operation he feels the need to qualify his statement by saying “at the moment.” He goes on to add that his star isn’t feeling much pain and hasn’t needed any injections to deal with his injury. Again though, he’s careful to qualify his statement by saying that Vardy hasn’t needed any injections “so far.”
Optimistic Leicester City fans will see these qualifications as nothing more than Ranieri acknowledging that he can’t predict the future. More realistic fans and pundits can see that it’s more than this. Ranieri’s not willing to definitively dismiss the injury and move on from it.
You can tell that he’s concerned it will either persist for a long time or flare up to the point where it will need more significant medical attention. If he wasn’t afraid of these things, he wouldn’t have felt the need to say things like “so far” and “at the moment.” He was hedging his statements based on his true concerns.
You can’t blame the Tinker for being concerned about Vardy’s status. He’s been the heart beat of Leicester’s side on the season and he’s gone from non-league player to England international in an astonishingly short amount of time. While I still believe Riyad Mahrez is their most talented player, Vardy has clearly been the Foxes best this year. Losing him would be emotionally devastating for the Premier League’s most surprising team.
For the sake of Leicester City fans and as an advocate of positive football I hope Ranieri’s concerns are entirely unfounded. The fan in me wants Jamie Vardy to be out there for Leicester City scoring goals for the rest of the year. The realist though sees a 27-year old striker with a hip injury that has his manager concerned. Let’s hope there’s still some magic in the story of Jamie Vardy.