10 years since the sensational title: Vardy returns to England, but not to the Premier League
After relegation from Italy's Serie A with Cremonese, Jamie Vardy is back in English football, while his former club Burnley sits winless at the bottom of the Championship this season. A decade ago, Vardy's Leicester sensationally won the Premier League title.
Burnley finished their last Premier League campaign with just 22 points from 38 matches, ending second from bottom and 19 points short of safety. Belgian coach Nicky Hayen, who previously managed Genk, took charge over the summer, but the club is yet to record a win under him. In the League Cup, Burnley have drawn twice, winning one shootout and losing the other, while in the Championship their record of 0 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses leaves them bottom of the table in 24th place, despite scoring in every match.
At the end of the transfer window, Burnley sold Dutch midfielder Zian Flemming, who had scored twice for the club, to Ipswich for 20 million euros. The team is still led by long-serving England international defender Kyle Walker.
Vardy's path
Clubs featuring Vardy have been relegated from the top flight in two consecutive seasons, and three times over the past four seasons. Leicester, the 2016 champions, dropped out of the Premier League in 2023, bounced back at the first attempt, but were relegated again in 2025. After 13 years at the club, Vardy went abroad for the first time, joining Italy's Cremonese, only for that club to be relegated from Serie A as well. In Italy, Vardy scored seven goals in 29 appearances.
In 2012, Vardy was the top scorer in England's fifth tier, netting 31 goals in 22 games to help Fleetwood win their conference. He was subsequently bought for 1.24 million euros by Leicester, then playing in the second tier. Within two seasons the club earned promotion to the Premier League, and in its second top-flight season sensationally won the English title. The FA Cup and Community Shield followed in 2021.
Over his Premier League career, Vardy made 342 appearances and scored 145 goals, finishing second in the scoring charts with 24 goals in the title-winning season, behind only Harry Kane's 25. In the second tier he has scored 38 goals in 94 games. For the England national team, Vardy played 26 matches and scored seven goals, featuring at both the 2016 European Championship and the 2018 World Cup, where England reached the semi-finals.
