Jamie Vardy says that declining a move from Leicester City to Arsenal was a difficult decision for him.
Arsenal expressed an interest in Vardy and triggered the £22m release clause for his services at the beginning of June. The striker who played a pivotal role in Leicester's fairytale journey to the summit of the Premier League last season, said he spoke to club boss Claudio Ranieri several times before making the call while on duty for England at the Euros.
"I spoke to him a couple of times in the hotels we were in who will begin Sunday’s World Cup qualifier against Slovakia on the England bench. 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 at Leicester, which is why I made my decision to stay."
Vardy added that while he was humbled by the offer, he sided with his heart in the end and recommitted himself to Leicester on a new four-year deal worth roughly £100,000 per week.
"There were loads of reasons. 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, though, both head and heart were saying ‘you need to stay’. I could see people’s point when they assumed I would go, but, deep down, if you don’t think it’s right for you, you don’t do it. It’s as simple as that."
"In my professional life, it was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make, but I haven’t been a professional for that long. It was hard, but it was actually an easy decision to make."
"Leicester have been on the rise for a while now and will keep doing that. Look at the deals they did in the transfer window: they obviously want to keep it going. And, if it does keep going, I want to be part of that. I’ve been there from when I was at Fleetwood Town, five years ago, when we were in the Championship and we have gone up and up and up."
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