Jamie Vardy, striker for Premier League leaders Leicester City, scored again today, for the eleventh consecutive game. The goal broke Ruud Van Nistelroy’s 12-year-old record of 10 consecutive appearances with goals.
Vardy’s story is a truly remarkable one. He began his career with the eighth-division Stockbridge Park Steels, then gradually made his way up the pyramid, to the fifth division, then the third, and finally, the second with Leicester City, who purchased him for a non-league record £1,000,000. Before he made it as a professional, he had to balance playing with holding a full-time job. Since Leicester cracked the top flight, Vardy has established himself as their most consistent player and has been earned four caps for the English national team. It’s pretty wild that a guy went from semi-pro to playing for his national team and possibly in European competition with his club.
Vardy has a limitless work rate, and great finishing ability. He’s the sort of badgering striker that opposing defenders hate to play against. Leicester have molded their goalscoring approach to his talents, and it’s working, as they are somehow at the top of the EPL table deep into November.
So is Jamie Vardy the greatest English striker of all time? Probably.
Photo via AP