Jamie Vardy snubs Leicester reunion and 'says yes' to surprise move to Serie A new boys

Jamie Vardy has reportedly turned down the opportunity of a Leicester reunion at Celtic in favour of a move to Italy. Vardy, 38, has been without a club since leaving Leicester at the end of the 2024/25 campaign and has been linked with a whole host of clubs.

The veteran striker scored 200 goals in 500 games for the Foxes and his experience has been in high demand in the summer transfer window. Everton, Celtic and Rangers are among the teams to be linked with him, but it is Cremonese who appear to have won the race.

The newly-promoted Serie A side have agreed terms over a free transfer for Vardy, according to reports from Italy. Vardy is expected to fly out to Cremona, south of Milan, to complete the surprise move in the coming days.

He had previously been linked with Napoli, who are looking for a replacement for the injured Romelu Lukaku, but will instead turn out for the Serie A minnows. Cremonese came up via the play-offs from Serie B, where they had spent two seasons, and kicked off their campaign with a stunning 2-1 win over AC Milan on the weekend at San Siro.

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His decision comes after strong links with a move to Celtic, who are managed by former Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers and also have ex-Foxes goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel. “Listen, I would not speak about any individual player,” Rodgers said when asked about the possibility of signing Vardy.

“Of course I worked really well with Jamie, he was brilliant for me in my time at Leicester. But there's been so many names floated about. I wouldn't disclose either way.”

Schmeichel also sounded keen on a reunion in Glasgow. “Jamie is an incredible striker that would make any team better I think,” he said.

“But I haven't spoken to him about it, no. I don't really know what his thoughts would be or the club's thoughts would be. But I can only say when I played with him at Leicester he was an incredible guy and an incredible striker.”

Vardy has also been strongly linked with a move to Wrexham, where two of his former team-mates have ended up. Goalkeeper Danny Ward and defender Conor Coady have gone straight into the starting line-up at the newly-promoted Championship side and Vardy appeared to be a good fit.

There were also rumours of a move to MLS after his wife Rebekah Vardy fuelled speculation after sharing a snap of their children in Inter Miami kits on social media.

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