Jamie Vardy aims to keep playing: Will he continue in the Premier League? | OneFootball

It had been an open secret for a while and now it is confirmed, Jamie Vardy will be leaving Leicester City at the end of 2024/25 after 13 years at the club.

While his destination remains unknown, the 38-year-old striker has indicated that his intention is to continue at the highest level and compete in the Premier League. Vardy has now left Leicester, having played his final match for the club on 18 May.

If you take a look at the top football odds today, picked by the experts at Legalbet who compare prices across bookmakers, you’ll notice the Foxes are being given pretty long odds – probably partly because of his departure. As for where he’s heading next, no one knows yet. The rumours are only starting to circulate.

Even so, the goal of this article is to analyse whether Vardy is fit to continue in the Premier League and speculate on which clubs could benefit from his transfer.

Vardy brushes off retirement talk

Despite being so close to 40, the former England striker intends to resume playing at the highest level for the time being. In a recent interview with ESPN, the Leicester City captain suggested as much: “Doubts about staying at the top level? No, but that’s just me. Football is a crazy world. You never know what’s going to happen. I’ll keep going until my legs tell me I need to stop. My legs are fine.”

There are two things to dissect here. First, the claim that Jamie has still got it. And second, which top-flight clubs could be interested in his signing.

Has Jamie Vardy still got it?

Basic numbers say that yes, the 38-year-old could potentially play another season in the Premier League. So far in the 2024/25 season, the Englishman has played 35 EPL games, all of them from the start. What’s more, he completed the full 90 minutes on 20 occasions.

In these 35 league appearances, Vardy scored a total of nine goals. The number is certainly not otherworldly, but still a decent showing considering his age and the fact that Leicester City got relegated.

Even so, this is his second-lowest goal tally in the last ten seasons, better only in comparison to the 2022/23 campaign when the Foxes were relegated too and the striker netted just three Premier League goals. More advanced stats require proper interpretation and need to be placed within the context of Leicester City’s overall performance. Still, Vardy is not in the top percentiles for any of the metrics relevant to a striker.

With a npxG (non-penalty expected goals) of 0.25 and a total of 1.43 shots per game, Vardy is clearly far from his prime days. At the same time, the centre-forward has had decent contributions defensively, recording 0.59 successful tackles per game, 0.78 clearances and winning 1.63 aerial duels per game.

Ultimately, Jamie has always been more about goals than anything else – converting quick vertical counter-attacks, scoring at set pieces, turning low-xG chances into actual goals. In this regard, Vardy recorded 0.25 goals per game in the 2024/25 season, while in the previous campaign in the EFL Championship, his record was almost double – 0.51 goals per game. And this does not even consider that Vardy played almost 900 minutes more in the most recent season.

Thus, it appears that for fans to enjoy good-old Jamie, the 38-year-old would need to play in the second division, where the competition level is lower and Leicester can be considered one of the favourites. At the same time, there could be Premier League clubs interested in his services if he can accept a less prominent role.

Potential Premier League clubs for Jamie Vardy

Everton has been one club that has been constantly worried about scoring output in recent years, and they would benefit from Vardy’s arrival. The Toffees do not have a fixed starter in attack, rotating between Beto and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who have scored 10 and three goals respectively across all competitions in the current season. With Vardy’s conversion rate and passion, he could secure an important role at Goodison Park.

Crystal Palace would make for a great story. The Eagles have won the FA Cup which means that they will be competing on two fronts in 2025/26, domestically and internationally. With a bigger squad needed for this type of season, Vardy would come in handy with his UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League experience.

Finally, there are Leeds United and Burnley who have been promoted from the EFL Championship. While the two clubs already have their main goalscorers, having Vardy would benefit them immensely in their task of avoiding relegation in the upcoming campaign.