Things could've been very different for Sheffield Wednesday and Leicester City had 2003 call been made | OneFootball

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Seeing Leicester City get relegated from the Premier League just six years after their miracle title win was odd for many football fans.

There have been some unexpectedly brilliant teams in Premier League history.

One that many may think of, other than Claudio Ranieri's Leicester side, is Blackburn Rovers. On the surface, it'd be completely understandable for a layman to look at a club that hasn't been in the Premier League since 2012 and think 'how did they win England's best league?'

When you dig a bit deeper you see the millions that were poured into the side by the owner at the time, Jack Walker. That money was used to bring in the likes of Alan Shearer, who spearheaded the side's success in the 1994-95 season, under Kenny Dalglish.

So, with them mostly discounted, there has only been on Premier League winning anomaly: Leicester City. Jamie Vardy was the Foxes' equivalent of Shearer, but one decision early in his career could have not only altered the destiny of him and his team, but also another Championship side.

Sheffield Wednesday release Jamie Vardy in 2003

Yes, you read that right, one of the best goalscorers in the Premier League's recent history was once an Owl.

Wednesday were the first club that he played for as a junior footballer. He grew up as a fan of the club, and witnessed the bitter rivalry between his club and Sheffield United in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Even though Vardy has been a Leicester player for well over a decade, he's aired his own personal biases and dislike for the Blades on occasion, including a brash celebration at Bramall Lane, where he stood and goaded the home fans, after putting his side 1-0 up.

In an ideal world, almost every footballer would want to play for, and win things with, their childhood club. Even when you play for other teams, it's hard to shake that affinity for the team you followed when you were younger, especially when it's involved in such a heated rivalry. So what could have happened if Vardy had stayed with Wednesday?

The Butterfly Effect would suggest that staying with the Owls would have massively altered the path that he was set to go on.

But why shouldn't we hypothesise about what could have been? We all know just how good he has gone on to become. That ability and potential is the one thing that wouldn't have changed if he'd stayed.

Vardy, after leaving his boyhood club, went on to score over 200 goals in his club career. He broke Ruud Van Nistelrooy's record for most scoring in the most consecutive Premier League games (11), which prompted the beautiful "It's 11, it's heaven for Jamie Vardy," line from Martin Tyler. The Yorkshireman has won the Championship, the Premier League, the FA Cup, and the Community Shield with the Foxes, as well as winning the Premier League and FWA player of the season for the 15/16 campaign.

He's a mercurial talent that has written himself into Premier League history. When you look at the history and the fanbases of Leicester and Wednesday, there's nothing to suggest that he couldn't have been successful with his boyhood team too.

Admittedly, Premier League titles, FA Cups and Champions League appearances probably only came about because of beautiful timing and sheer chance, but, with Vardy up front, Wednesday could have been in the tier above their current one, rather than below it.