After Leicester City’s unthinkable Premier League title triumph in 2016, many of their star players were subjected to interest from some of Europe’s elite.
None more so than top scorer Jamie Vardy, who netted a whopping 24 Premier League goals that season.
Vardy got himself into the England squad, too, and jetted off to France at the end of the campaign for the Euros.
It was there where he bumped into Arsene Wenger on a number of occasions and the then Arsenal manager was desperate to bring him to North London.
“I spoke to him [Wenger] a couple of times in the hotels we were in while we were in France. It was just, ‘Hi, are you all right?’, and walk off to the match,” Vardy told Sky Sports.
“It was basically every hotel. I think he was doing French TV for the Euros. It wasn’t awkward, it was just a simple, ‘Hello, are you okay?’ That kind of thing. It was a nice compliment they wanted to buy me.”
Ultimately, Vardy decided to reject the move to Arsenal in favour of staying at the Foxes and here’s the real reason why.
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Jamie Vardy’s head and heart told him to stay at Leicester
Vardy revealed that both his head and heart told him to stay at Leicester as he thought about how much the club meant to him, even right down to the tea lady.
“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, which is why I made my decision to stay.
“Deep down if you don’t think it is the right move for you, you don’t do it. It is as simple as that. 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, both head and heart were saying, ‘You need to stay’.
“In my professional life it was the hardest decision. It was hard but, like I said, when it came to my head and my heart it was an easy decision.”
Vardy has since cemented himself as a Leicester legend
It’s the age-old debate in football; do you chase legendary status at one club or move around to get as many trophies as possible?
For Vardy, he’s been able to do both. The veteran striker is firmly cemented as a club legend and he’s been able to win two major trophies along the way; the Premier League and FA Cup.
He’s also won the Championship twice, the Community Shield and had multiple endeavours in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.
So it’s fair to say his decision to stay at Leicester in 2016 has been vindicated.