England star chasing down goalscoring record living Premier League dream

Vardy now has four England caps to his name, and has drawn the attention of even Real Madrid

JAMIE VARDY used to run around in an England shirt as a kid pretending to be Alan Shearer or Michael Owen: on Saturday he will run around in a Leicester shirt gunning for a Premier League scoring record.

 

Vardy, who has scored 12 Premier League goals so far this season, can make history if he scores against Newcastle at St James' Park.

That would make it 10 games in a row on the scoresheet and equal the record set by former Manchester United ace Ruud Van Nistelrooy.

Vardy's heroics have earned him England recognition and suddenly he is the name on everybody's lips.

 

He spent too long in the non-League school of hard knocks and playing Sunday football for his local pub team to allow himself to get carried away.

"Everyone comes into football differently," he said. "The fact that I've had to work full-time before means nothing to anyone else.

"That's the route I had to take. I appreciate it like there's no tomorrow. That's how I always will be. I will never change.

 

As recently as 2012, Vardy was playing for Fleetwood Town

"When I was at Halifax I never thought I would earn a move to the Conference and from there you would never have thought there would be a move to Leicester."

Even when he got the text informing him of his international call-up, Vardy thought it was a joke.

"I was in the middle of a kids' shop, reading this massive text, from an unrecognised number and I just thought: 'Someone is taking the p*** here.'"

 

"I just thought it was one of the lads, one of my colleagues, using a mate's phone and winding me up."

It was only when he saw it on TV - 'Leicester City's Jamie Vardy called up for England squad' - that he realised it was true.

"England. You would never have thought it in a million years would you? But it has happened. Massive dreamland.

"It's every kid's dream to play for England isn't it? I used to run around in my England shirt as a kid in Sheffield pretending I was Alan Shearer or Michael Owen."