Who will be Jamie Vardy's successor?

There is no doubt that 36-year-old Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy is a club legend but after breaking numerous records, his goal threat and form is starting to decline and questions are starting to be asked on who his successor will be.

In any upcoming transfer window, Leicester City Football Club (LCFC) should aim to bolster their attacking options with the addition of a striker who plays in a similar style to Vardy.

Having scored only two Premier League goals this season, fans can see the obvious decline in his form. His best season to date is the title-wining 2015/16 season where he ended up scoring 24 Premier League goals.

The 15/16 season is by far the greatest and most successful season. Players such as Riyad Mahrez, Kasper Schmeichel and N'Golo Kante were also vital for Leicester that season.

However, they all came and left but Vardy is still here, very much alive and kicking, raring to start every game. His recent poor form has seen him excluded from the starting 11 numerous times this season.

Leicester fan, Gurdev Ghatoura, 22, said: "It is an absolute joy to watch vardz play at Leicester. He's a club legend and they should build a statue of him outside the stadium.

"That counter attacking team we have seen over the years wouldn’t have been the same without him."

The 36-year-old England international has had an excellent career starting from the bottom in non-league football to achieving Premier League glory with Leicester City Football Club.

Started at Sheffield Wednesday U18

On a free transfer to Stocksbridge

Transfer to Halifax for £18k

Left Halifax and transferred to Fleetwood for £170k

Audacious £1.3M transfer to current club LCFC

There is a lot of speculation as to who the ideal replacement for Vardy would be, seeing as he is 36 years old, transitioning into the retirement phase of his career.

With Vardy's unique style of play, it is going to be a challenge to find a similar player to him due to his pacy running in behind and excellence at being a fox in the box.

In the summer of 2021, Leicester signed Patson Daka for £22m, but he didn't get off to a flying start and the fans were disappointed initially.

However, he managed to rack up five goals from 23 Premier League games in his first season, which isn't the poorest record in history.

This season, Leicester's attacking players have been misfiring and they are having to rely almost solely on James Maddison to win them games.

Daka has been given his chances this season but he has only managed to score four goals from 26 games so far.

Although he may have similar attributes and traits as Vardy, he was brought in to support the attack but could it possibly be time to search for a new out and out number nine?

The fans are eager to know what kind of approach LCFC will take and what plans they have in the future. There have been potential rumours of Joao Pedro joining from Watford because he is only 21 and still has time to develop.

Daka was brought in to score goals and if Leicester are patient he might just be the right man for them as soon as he's comfortable with life in the Premier League.

There are many other options for Leicester but they should also be eyeing up a potential audacious move for RB Leipzig's Timo Werner because his runs in behind and ability to chase the ball is similar to Vardy's.

"My life has changed, but I’m not money-motivated at all; that’s the last thing on my mind. I just want to play football, and that’s how I’ve always been.

My diet is not unorthodox. I just eat like anyone else – that’s just how I am. Everyone is different. It is just my metabolism that keeps me this slim."

Jamie VARDY

Here is an overview of the 2022/23 stat comparisons with data provided by opta.

In terms of being a fox in the box, which Vardy is best known for, by mid-February, he had only scored one goal compared to Pedro's six.

Vardy is coming to a retiring age and his fitness isn't the same as it used to be five years ago. Having played only 751 minutes at that time, he had shared half the minutes with Daka.

Just by looking at Pedro's stats from afar it is quite obvious that he was ahead of Werner, Daka and Vardy in many attributes.

All this green on Pedro's stats makes him an outstanding replacement for Vardy.

His 576 attempted passes shows how he is a team player compared to Vardy's 108 (as of mid-February).

If the Foxes do decide to buy Pedro, this would be a big change in the system that they play.

Pedro likes to play with the ball at his feet and he is also a creative player.

The only positive aspect to Daka's game is his shot accuracy being the highest out of the four at 78.57

It is impossible to know for sure who LCFC will buy in the next transfer window but Watford's Joao Pedro isn't a bad shout according to the stats.

Seven Leicester players returned from the 2022 Qatar World Cup whilst the other players continued their winter training sessions.

The Premier League resumed on December 26 but Leicester were thrashed 0-3 at home but that would have been a tough ask for any team and ever since then they have been on a poor run of results.

If they (LCFC) want any chance of playing Premier League football next season they will need to invest in the attacking positions because they are just a Maddison injury away from potentially having a very bad season.