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It was fitting that Jamie Vardy was given an audience at the Violin Museum in Cremona, because at least they had access to a very small one to play for the striker about having to finish his career in picturesque Lombardy rather than the East Midlands. He is also a classical showman but, aged 38, some suspect that the former England international is a spent force. Vardy has been doubted from Stocksbridge Park Steels to the Champions League, though, and has always delivered. “It is up to me to disprove the predictions,” he chirped. “Age is just a number. I always listen to my legs. At the moment I still feel great. During my whole career I have been underestimated and I worked to prove everyone wrong, and I have succeeded in doing that.”
It is fitting that a man from Sheffield has joined a club owned by a man who makes his money in the metal industry. Vardy is not the first English player to think he can show the Italians how to run in behind. Cremonese will hope he can be more successful than the likes of Danny Dichio and Franz Carr. A willingness to learn the language will be important for Vardy, so he can follow more in the footsteps of David Platt and Paul Gascoigne. The former was fluent, ticking off Bari, Sampdoria and Juventus over a four-year period. With the best will in the world, Vardy is unlikely to be banging them in come 2029. What he could do, however, is follow Platt and Gazza’s lead by opening his arms and doors to the television cameras. No one has ever expected Vardy to make a great access-all-areas documentary, so this is surely his chance. The Englishman could show James Richardson how to make a basic pasta dish, take part in a sketch involving a goat anecdote or at the very least invite Elvis Costello to give his verdict on Vardy’s move: a Brilliant Mistake or just Beyond Belief.
