There has been a large amount of speculation on why Jamie Vardy has not signed with Arsenal yet even though a deal was thought to be in place.
There were multiple reports that by the time the England national team left for Euro 2016 at 11:30am BST on Monday we would know which team striker Jamie Vardy would be playing for next season. It is now past 9pm BST and we still have no word on who the 29 year-old will end up with. Here are three possible reasons on why we have not seen the deal go through, ranked by my opinion of their validity
1) Leicester’s counter-offer is giving him second thoughts
We have reports that Jamie Vardy has received a counter offer from the foxes as a last-ditch effort to try to keep him on board so they can continue their cinderella run into the Champions League next season. It would certainly be an improvement on the 60,000 pound/week wage contract he signed in February that was supposed to keep him on board until 2019.
If Leicester offered him similar terms to Arsenal’s 4-year, 120,000 pound/week wage contract, Vardy might be reconsidering his move to Emirates Stadium. He is regarded as a hero in Leicester already, and if the money would about equal or identical from both teams, it would make sense that he’d want to stay on the squad that gave him a chance when no one else would. Also, he is close to manager Claudio Ranieri so with money not being a factor Leicester could have a leg up on Arsenal.
This possibility does beg the question though, did Vardy use Arsenal to sweeten his deal in Leicester?
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2) Arsenal want to sign Riyad Mahrez too
There have been multiple reports that in addition to the Vardy, Arsenal have also been after another Leicester City player, Riyad Mahrez. The delay in announcing Vardy could be a hold up on Arsenal’s side as they try to sign Vardy’s teammate.
Then it would make sense to hold off on the Vardy announcement, so you could do a Vardy/Mahrez mega-announcement. Vardy could even be helping Arsenal recruit the 25 year-old winger who was just as integral a part of Leicester City’s outrageous Premier League title win.
They were an electric duo and if Arsenal could snag both of them from Leicester they hope the magic would make a seamless transition to Emirates Stadium.
3) Jamie Vardy doesn’t want to be the first to leave
I list this one as the least valid possibility because it directly contradicts the second possibility. There are some people saying that the Vardy announcement has been put off until another one of Leicester’s players leave so it does not look like Jamie Vardy started the mass exodus of talent from the foxes.
This would be Vardy trying to save face a little bit, as he is regarded very highly in Leicester for helping them capture the title, but Vardy doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy that worries about saving face. Also, if he is indeed trying to help Arsenal recruit Mahrez, it would seem he doesn’t much care about started an exodus of talent, either.
Right now it seems there is no gap of information between your average fan and people “inside the know” so I guess we are just gonna have to wait it out. Hopefully it won’t be long, because I’m sure all England fans don’t want this distraction to be hanging over the team during the Euros.