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Koke

Sam Allardyce claims he could have signed Jamie Vardy for West Ham in 2011

By Koke, in Leicester City Forum

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Koke

Koke

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Sam Allardyce has revealed he missed out on signing Jamie Vardy for West Ham United for just £1million.

 

Vardy is currently the top scorer in the Premier League, having scored 10 goals in just 11 appearances for Leicester City this season.

 

The 32-year-old moved to the King Power Stadium in the summer of 2012 after plundering goals for fun at non-league level for both Halifax Town and then Fleetwood Town.

 

In January 2012, the jet-heeled striker impressed against local rivals Blackpool and manager Ian Holloway failed with a £750,000 bid.

 

 

The Cod Army earned promotion to the Football League largely thanks to Vardy’s 31 goals, but the forward was off to the Championship..

 

He said: “When I was at West Ham and I needed some goals Mickey Mellon, who played for me, he’s a brilliant manager and he is at Tranmere now.

 

"But he rang me up and he said ‘We can’t sign Jamie Vardy; he won’t stay with us Sam. Give us a million quid and it will be the best signing you have ever made’.

 

 

And that was quite a bit of money for a non-league player, I’m talking 2011, in my first season at West Ham.

 

“I just wondered if Jamie could jump out of the conference and come in for our first year of the Premier League.

 

“So I didn’t do it and I have been kicking myself ever since because he went to Leicester instead with Nigel [Pearson] and [Craig Shakespeare] Shakey.”

 

After initially struggling at Leicester, Vardy came into his own at the end of the 2014/15 Premier League season as he kept the Foxes in the top-flight.

 

 

His swashbuckling and aggressive style of play terrified Premier League defenders the following season as he broke Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Premier League record by scoring in 11 consecutive games.

 

After retiring from England duty last year, it seems as though the 32-year-old has gone from strength to strength. And Allardyce has regretted the decision not to sign him ever since.

 

He added: “I went to David Sullivan and he said ‘Non-league player for £1million? Will he go straight in your team?’

 

And I said ‘I’ve been told by his manager I will not regret it.’”

 

https://talksport.com/football/625770/sam-allardyce-west-ham-missed-jamie-vardy-leicester-city/amp/

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Koke

Koke

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Quite amazing what random career choices can do. Vardy would have jumped up and down with joy signing for a PL club. His life would have changed completely financially, before of course being shipped out to Peterborough United for £500k because Sam Allardyce doesn't know what to do with talent.

 

But he ended up at Leicester and rest is history.

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davieG

davieG

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Regurgitated old news

 

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/leicesters-jamie-vardy-sam-allardyce-could-have-signed-me-for-west-ham-a3336266.html

 

2016

 

Leicester striker Jamie Vardy has revealed ahead of England's World Cup qualifier against Slovakia that Sam Allardyce had the opportunity to sign him for West Ham.

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KrefelderFox666

KrefelderFox666

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10 minutes ago, Raw Dykes said:

Not newsworthy, really. They weren't going to risk even £1m on a non-league player. Hadn't done their homework on him. Even if they had bought him, they weren't going to persist with him like we did and talk him out of quitting.

 

If my auntie had bollocks...

As well as that, he probably would not have developed as well as he has and would have flopped at West Ham. Who cares anyway.

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ALC Fox

ALC Fox

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So it kind of went down like this...?

 

• Mate of PL manager is recommended non-league player by a mate who happens to manage said non-league player.

 

• PL manager hasn't scouted the non-league player properly but he trusts his mate as he's a 'proper football man' so takes it to the chairman.

 

• Chairman doesn't like the risk so the deal doesn't happen.

 

I prefer the way we did/do business to be honest. Big Sam's time has past.

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Xen

Xen

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Not too surprising - there were loads of clubs tracking him after he was on fire in non-league. We just happened to be one of the few clubs who were willing to pay the price and take the risk on him. 

 

Good job, too, as whilst its impossible to say for certain its quite likely that he wouldn't have had all of this success if he'd gone elsewhere - least of all if he'd stepped up an extra division. Remember that he didn't hit the ground running when he first signed for us and was very close to quitting altogether if it hadn't been for Pearson - any other coach and he might not have found his journey up the football league quite as encouraging.

 

There'll be loads of instances like this of clubs who came close to signing a player who when looking back now would've seemed so out of place. We famously almost signed Cruyff at one point, and even under Sven we were supposedly about to sign a young Lewandowski. 

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Koke

Koke

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Vardy has delivered for LCFC but the club has certainly done a lot for him. I doubt he would be where he is today had he gone to West Ham or Blackpool. As @Xen said Vardy struggled at the beginning and would have been shipped out a lot quicker if he played for Allardyce or something. I'm sure he is extremely grateful for Leicester City Football Club.

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AKCJ

AKCJ

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It wouldn't have worked out for him anywhere else I don't think.

 

The last 8 years have been the perfect storm for Jamie Vardy and LCFC. So many things have gone the right way in order for him and the club as a whole to bloom.

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Tommo220

Tommo220

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3 minutes ago, Raw Dykes said:

lol There were people on here saying we should sell Vardy to the Baggies for a couple of million, I think.

 

Beckford. What a frustrating player he was.

I swear Everton must have just as good a history of ruining attacking players as we seem to have!

 

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Guest Eamonn

Guest Eamonn

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He signed in 2012. It was 2015 before he was the main man. We have a lot to thank Pearson and Shakespeare for, for helping him get to this level.

 

Hope we are saying similar stuff about Iheanacho in 2 years.

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Lambert09

Lambert09

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6 hours ago, Koke said:

Quite amazing what random career choices can do. Vardy would have jumped up and down with joy signing for a PL club. His life would have changed completely financially, before of course being shipped out to Peterborough United for £500k because Sam Allardyce doesn't know what to do with talent.

 

But he ended up at Leicester and rest is history.

I was thinking exactly this. 

 

He wasnt ready for us in the championship, the premier league would have completely destroyed his confidence. Pearsons greatest achievement at Leicester was probably his man management of Vardy.

 

So the real story would be, Allardyce could have signed Vardy, never played him and sold him to peterborough. lol

 

It does make you think though, how many Jamie Vardy's have gone missing because of circumstance. Worthy of a thread of its own. 

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Lambert09

Lambert09

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1 hour ago, Eamonn said:

He signed in 2012. It was 2015 before he was the main man. We have a lot to thank Pearson and Shakespeare for, for helping him get to this level.

 

Hope we are saying similar stuff about Iheanacho in 2 years.

Just became a fan in the premier league then? 

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