Life begins at 40, Vardy says there is no sign of slowing down

 

Life begins at 40, just ask Jamie Vardy as he closes in on that milestone, but don’t dare tell him his legs are gone. Presented at new Serie A club Cremonese this week, the former Leicester City striker showed his legendary spiky attitude when a reporter suggested the years were catching up with him.

“You must be one of the doubters, and you’re one that I’ll have to prove wrong,” Vardy barked.

“Age is just a number. As long as my legs are still doing exactly what they used to and feel as fresh as they do, then I will carry on. At the moment, there’s no signs of them slowing down.”

Italian football is no stranger to the 40+ crowd. Paolo Maldini, considered one of the world’s best ever defenders, was still marshalling AC Milan’s backline at 40, and Dino Zoff lifted the World Cup as Italy’s captain at the same age. Vardy, who once led the Foxes from relegation favourites to Premier League champions in the most extraordinary title race ever, sees himself walking in similar footsteps.

After 13 years at the King Power Stadium, Vardy could have retired a legend. Instead, he has chosen a new challenge in Serie A with promoted Cremonese, a club tipped to struggle against the usual suspects of Italian football. The veteran striker said a Zoom call with coach Davide Nicola swayed him. “Just looking in his eyes and seeing what he wanted, that really resonated with me. As a footballer it’s always nice to feel wanted,” said Vardy.

It is the same underdog script he knows so well. Leicester’s 2016 triumph, defying 5,000-1 odds to win the title, is still the greatest Cinderella story in the history of the Premier League. “There was never any, ‘We’re going to go for this.’ It was always, ‘We need to stay in the league,'” Vardy recalled. “You go out, take each one by one, and what will be will be. Back then we ended up winning quite a lot, and that’s football.”

Cremonese have already torn up the Serie A formbook, beating AC Milan at the San Siro and edging Sassuolo. Vardy, wearing another legend’s kit, Gianluca Vialli’s old No.10 shirt, could debut against Verona on Monday.

“It’s 11 vs. 11 and anyone can beat anyone,” he said. “We’ll be ready for every single game. Take them one by one and we’ll see where that takes us.”