Jamie Vardy will finish with Leicester City this season but plans to continue playing, according to the club's manager. Photo: photosport
Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy's numbers, the trophies he has won and his individual honours prove he will go down in history as one of the greatest to play in the Premier League, manager Ruud van Nistelrooy says.
Vardy will leave Leicester at the end of the season, with the 38-year-old former England international set to play his final game for the club when they host fellow relegated side Ipswich Town at King Power Stadium on Monday (NZT).
Van Nistelrooy said Vardy would lead the team out as the fans get ready to bid farewell to the club's greatest player of the modern age who led them to a Premier League title against all odds as well as an FA cup victory.
"When you see the amount of times a player is performing at the highest level, for me that is the biggest achievement," Van Nistelrooy told reporters.
"When you're capable of performing in 13 seasons at this level, coming up to 500 games, coming up 200 goals, that says it all, on your mindset and standards you set yourself, how you live your life around football and how you perform.
"Then you look at the trophies he won, also the individual achievements. It's the total package of one of the greatest."
Vardy will be playing his 500th game for Leicester on Sunday, exactly 13 years to the day since he signed from Fleetwood Town for one million pounds.
Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy. Photo: Photosport
He also needs to find the net one more time to finish with 200 goals for the Foxes.
"There's many dates and numbers coming together, but the way I know him, he'll come in and do his best to try and win the game," Van Nistelrooy said.
"That's what he'll think about, that's his aim. If that comes with a goal for him, or an assist, that's how he'll think."
Vardy also broke Van Nistelrooy's Premier League record by scoring in 11 consecutive games in Leicester's 2015-16 title-winning season.
The Dutchman confirmed it would be Vardy's last game for the club, with the striker set to sit out their final game of the season at Bournemouth on the last day of the season, although he is not ready to retire just yet.
"It was clear in his announcement that he would leave Leicester and he would play his last game against Ipswich. That's what we respect," he added.
"This will be his last game for Leicester City but he wants to continue playing. In that sense he is committed to perform and to play. That is what I have sensed with him."
- Reuters
