Report: Jamie Vardy 80% likely to stay at Leicester

James Olley of the Evening Standard reports that sources close to the England camp say that the 29-year old is leaning towards staying at champions Leicester City and rejecting Arsenal. Having talked with several players about the situation (whether those players are England players or his Leicester teammates is unclear), Vardy is now 80-per cent likely to reject Arsenal and sign a new contract with Leicester worth £100k per week - £20k per week less than the contract on offer at Arsenal.

One reason Vardy is considering staying at Arsenal is quite interesting: he believes he would not be first choice ahead of Olivier Giroud, which has created doubt about the move. For a player who is supposed to have the hunger and winning mentality that Arsenal apparently lack, such defeatism is quite surprising and speaks volumes about Vardy, if true. If that is a reason, then perhaps Arsenal will end up better off without him.

There will be more reports like this over the next three weeks, especially on slow news days with no tournament action. This situation has been created because initial reports stated that everyone--Vardy, Arsenal and England--wanted the deal concluded before the tournament. Now that has not happened, expect frequent insights into Vardy's mindset. This is not to say that such stories are not accurate, in terms of their sourcing. It benefits Leicester, fighting to keep Jamie Vardy, N'Golo Kanté and Riyad Mahrez, to have reports that Vardy wants to stay, and it benefits Arsenal to have Vardy be the focus of transfer interest. But once England are out, so after the quarter-finals, there will actually be a decision.