Ian Wright: Jamie Vardy ticks all the boxes for Arsenal… and he could be the man to finally fire Gunners to Premier League title
Club legend claims Emirates supporters can only grumble that boss Arsene Wenger did not sign the Leicester ace sooner
IT always amazes me how some people will look for the negative in everything.
I think everyone is well aware how excited I am about the possibility of Arsenal signing Jamie Vardy.
And no, all you lot who’ve been giving me pelters on Twitter about having inside info or trying to influence the deal – I can say, hand on heart, that’s absolute rubbish on both counts.
But what’s got me is the sudden outcry from those who reckon that Vardy, at 29, is too old. How Arsene Wenger should be looking at younger models.
Do people not realise that when I signed for Arsenal my next birthday was my 29th?
I wasn’t a teenager in the first flushes of their career. I was just over a year away from being a 30-something! But I’d like to think I did okay for the club.
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And when I went to Highbury, I didn’t go as a regular in the England squad, heading to a major tournament, with a title winners’ medal in my pocket.
That’s why the only comparison I would draw between myself and Vardy at this stage is that our age is pretty similar.
Plus the fact that when I signed, there was quite a debate as to whether I’d fit into their style of play, about whether they suddenly planned to change it.
The same argument is going round about Vardy. Some claim he just isn’t an Arsene type of player. That they simply aren’t direct enough to play to his strengths.
The Crystal Palace team I left were very direct, just like Leicester are very direct when they’re attacking.
But if you’re a clever player – and Vardy is – then you have the ability to change your game. The idea you only have one way of playing is as insulting as it’s wrong.
And so what if signing Vardy means teams suddenly start dropping deep to stop him getting in behind?
If that happens, all it does is leave more space for the likes of Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Aaron Ramsey, Santi Cazorla and all those create sorts.
I’m delighted to see Arsene going for an English striker who is a proven Premier League goalscorer. And, equally important, someone who is a winner.
Adding Jamie to the side would give the Gunners another dimension, and I believe that at this stage of his career he is ready to blast on and do even greater things.
If they are getting him for £20 million, I can’t see it as anything other than fantastic business.
Some would love to see Wenger paying three times that for one of world football’s biggest superstars.
But even then you don’t know how people are going to adapt to English football. You’ve no idea how long it would take them to get to grips with it.
Look at someone like Juan Sebastian Veron. There was no doubt that when he joined Manchester United, he did so as one of the best midfielders on the planet.
Yet he only showed it in flashes, even less so when they moved him on to Chelsea, and he left without the Premier League ever seeing his true colours consistently.
And let’s be honest, as much as everyone would love to bring in a Robert Lewandowski or the like, that ain’t going to happen.
For a start these guys just aren’t available. And even if they were, would the Emirates really be a more attractive destination that the Nou Camp or Bernabeu?
In my view Vardy ticks all the boxes, in terms of ability, attitude, effort and achievement.
He’ll run all day, he’ll work his socks off every second he’s on the pitch and the fans would absolutely idolise him.
Throw in his goalscoring record at the highest level and you’re talking a real winner.
I’ve been banging the drum about him ever since Leicester’s 5-3 win over United in September 2014.
In fact I said then that if he carried on, there was every chance he could get an England call. I got loads of stick for that as well!
Well all those who panned me at the time have gone very quiet since. If his signing helps Arsenal to the title, they won’t be complaining then, either.
Mind you, if that happens they’ll probably be grumbling about how Arsene should have signed him even earlier!