SAD NEWS:Jamie Vardy just lost his child (r.i.p) legend 

SAD NEWS:Jamie Vardy just lost his child (r.i.p) legend

Your questions answered on all things Leicester City, looking at Vardy’s future, the success of the Under-21s, Callum Doyle’s injury, and the relentlessness of the Championship

Jamie Vardy is in the final year of his current contract (Image: Phil Bryan/REX/Shutterstock)

Even with more than seven months to go until the end of the season, the future of Jamie Vardy is a hot topic.

He’s out of contract at Leicester City next summer, and if this is to be his final year at the club, supporters may need to emotionally prepare themselves. But there have been few clues so far that Vardy is ready to call it a day, so the decision may come down to the manager and the club.

It’s one of the topics on our latest Q+A, where we also look at the success of the Under-21s, Callum Doyle’s injury, and more. You can read our answers below.

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Q: Do you think this will be Vardy’s last season with us?

A: If Leicester get promoted, no, I don’t think it will be. I could see him staying for one more season in the Premier League. There’s lots to assess, and it does depend on how Vardy’s feeling, but what we do know is that Maresca is a big fan of him.

He’s had nearly as much game-time as Iheanacho so far. In terms of minutes played, Iheanacho ranks 11th in the squad and Vardy is 12th. If he keeps that up and plays as many minutes each month as he has over August and September, he’s going to have played a key part in City’s season, and I don’t think in that scenario that City are going to want to lose him. Obviously, once Cannon is fit, things could change, but based on what Maresca has said about Vardy and how he has used him, I don’t think he’ll be pushed to the fringes at any point.

There would have to be a new one-year contract and that’s not going to be cheap for a player who is very well paid, but if he leaves, they may feel they need to spend on another striker anyway. More than just how much Vardy costs and how much a replacement would cost, City also have to consider other factors like keeping their manager happy and keeping fans happy. If Vardy is keen to sign a new deal and has had an impact this term, they I don’t think it would go down very well if City were to look past him. Ideally, Vardy’s time at the club ends on his watch.

Q: Do you think Ben Petty is at risk of losing his job due to the woeful form and back-to-back relegations with the youth side?

A: It wasn’t back-to-back relegations, but there were two relegations that City should have suffered but were saved from after league restructures. In the new format, they can’t go down, but as things stand, they’re 24th out of 26, which is obviously pretty poor, and they have been losing against teams who were in the division below them last term, which isn’t great either.

But as far how Petty is judged, I do think the number of young players coming through into the first team has to be considered. City are enjoying much more success than they ever used to in that regard. When you look at someone like Wanya Marcal, who has never had a loan spell away to learn his trade but made the step up to the first team and did a decent job, there has to be some credit go Petty’s way for preparing the players for that jump.

I don’t have the data to back this up, but while I would guess that the more successful Under-21s teams produce more players for first teams, it’s probably only a rough correlation. In short, I don’t think just because City are doing poorly in Premier League 2, it means they’re not going to produce any players for the first team. They’ve already proven then can do that, and ultimately that’s Petty’s job, to get players ready to step up and join Maresca.

Q: With Doyle’s injury, we’ve got a player who got injured in game, carried on playing until half-time and is now out for the season (probably). It feels like a reoccurring theme over the last number of seasons, rather than being cautious and using a sub, we plough on until breaking point.Who’s making these calls and is it actually a major issue?

A: First of all, there’s a possibility Doyle won’t be out for the season. The club are still conducting checks, so nothing is definitive yet, but from what I’m hearing it’s not as bad as knee injuries can be.

And I don’t think it’s a major issue, to be honest. Footballers get knocks all of the time, and they do run them off. Unless it’s a very clear leg break, I’d imagine this sort of injury feels like a knock and it’s only when the pain doesn’t go away after 20 minutes that they realise something is wrong. It’s often down to the player. They’re running on adrenaline, which might lessen the pain, and they never want to come off voluntarily.

The main example I can think of is that Ricardo completed the 90 minutes when he did his ACL against Villa in the final game before lockdown, despite the challenge that caused it coming about 20 minutes from the end. It was the same when he fractured his leg at Liverpool a couple years ago. He didn’t come off until a good while after the actual incident.

If you were taking footballers off every time they get a knock, you’d quickly run out of subs. So when a player goes into a 50-50 and hurts their knee as Doyle did, it could just be an impact injury. I don’t think you really know how serious it is until the pain doesn’t go away.

Q: Am I missing a point? We keep hearing how tough the Championship is with games coming “thick and fast” but in reality, it’s no different to playing in Europe. There are eight extra games compared to the standard Premier League season and we played a minimum of six matches in European competition – more if we got to the knock out stages. Surely it has to be better for squad development to play more regularly?

A: That’s a fair point. You’re right, numbers-wise, it’s not a great deal of difference to playing in Europe, but I think the Championship feels more relentless because you don’t get to revel in wins for that long. With Europe, it’s a separate competition and it feels detached from the Premier League. If you get a Premier League win, you get a week to enjoy it, no matter what happens in Europe. With the Championship, you only get three days some weeks. You can think you’ve built up some good form because it could then be over if you lose twice in a week. There are so many momentum swings. So I think it’s a mindset thing, rather than actual physical effort.

In terms of squad development, I do think there’s a balance to strike. Yes, more games together, and more games for each player, should lead to team and individual progress, but too much football can lead to burnout. For what it’s worth, I think it seems like Maresca is getting that balance right at the moment, and should hopefully mean City are fresh going into the final couple of months of the season.

Q: What is happening to the ground extension?

A: In truth, not a lot. While the green light has been given on the plans, they can’t go ahead until there is a Section 106 agreement between the club and City Council. What that means is that the club have to provide/build something that improves the city of Leicester in order for them to have permission to build the stadium expansion. There’s not been any agreement on what that might be, but neither do I think the club are pushing to get it sorted.

The indication I was given was that City’s plans would not be abandoned if they got relegated, but it certainly does seem like they’re on pause at the moment. There are expiry dates on the plans, so building work will have to begin before those run out, but that’s not an immediate concern.

Would you like to see Vardy sign a new contract at City? Let us know in the comments section below.

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