Wenger reveals offering Vardy a lot of money to join Arsenal

Arsene Wenger revealed that he offered Jamie Vardy ‘a lot of money’ to join Arsenal from Leicester back in 2016.

Wenger attempted to court the striker after the Foxes had pulled off their miraculous Premier League title under Claudio Ranieri and their star man Vardy broke records as he led them to their 5000/1 fairy tale.

The former non-league frontman scored in eleven consecutive Premier League matches to set a new topflight record and caught the eye of Wenger at the Emirates Stadium

However, after earning himself an international call-up for England for Euro 2016, Vardy committed his future to the King Power Stadium and Wenger believes the Midlands outfit may have offered him even more money than they were offering at Arsenal.

‘I offered him a lot of money at the time,’ Wenger told beIN Sports.

‘Leicester had just won the championship in 2016, and [Vichai] Srivaddhanaprabha at the time, who unfortunately after had the helicopter accident, did absolutely not want to lose him and they offered him a longer contract and approximately the same money, if not more.’

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He added: ‘We had more of the ball, yes, but still around the box, the timings of his runs, he finds the space.

‘When you see the big strikers, they’re on the move when others stand still in the box, and he has that.

‘You see they read (the game) earlier than others, they anticipate better, they understand quicker than other people what’s going on, and (he has) that quality of anticipation, that speed of understanding.’