Ruud van Nistelrooy salutes Leicester’s ‘best player ever’ Jamie Vardy

Leicester boss Ruud van Nistelrooy described Jamie Vardy as “the best player ever” to play for the club after he announced his decision to leave after 13 years.

The 38-year-old joined Leicester from Fleetwood in July 2012 and has scored 198 goals in 496 games during his illustrious time with the club.

Vardy was part of the teams which produced the ‘great escape’ from relegation in 2015 before winning the Premier League title at 5000/1 odds the following year, and helped bring Champions League football to Leicester alongside an FA Cup win in 2021.

On Thursday, Leicester announced Vardy would leave the club with a series of videos and messages on the club social media channels, but the striker will not yet retire from the game.

Vardy scored in 11 successive Premier League fixtures in 2015 to break Van Nistelrooy’s previous record of 10, and his current boss believes he deserves all the credit from the club.

“Fair to say he is the best player ever to play for this football club,” the Leicester boss said. “The most impact on all the successes that they have had over the past 13 years.

“He is four games away from 500 games for the football club, two goals from 200 goals for football club – those figures say a lot. When you put silverware next to them, then you have a complete picture.

“His farewell is above anything. He deserves all the credit and honour possible from the club towards him, the squad towards him, the supporters towards him and all people who love football towards him.”

Vardy is set to walk out at the King Power Stadium for the final time against Ipswich on May 18 and is likely to make his last Leicester appearance a week later with a trip to Bournemouth.

The former England international broke the news of his departure to Van Nistelrooy in a “special” 45-minute conversation where the pair discussed Vardy’s career.

“He informed me on the decision. I know how tough this decision was. It’s time for him to move and I don’t know what the reasons behind it are,” the Dutchman added.

“We talked about the next move. It’s an open book. For him, it’s a time to reflect, together with his family about making a decision as to where he wants to play.

“The conversation I had with him was special. He came to my office and told me what he’d decided, then we spoke for 45 minutes on many things.

“Over the 13 years he played, there were many highs and lows. What stands out is loyalty to the football club. He wants to be the best he can, he was there through thick and thin.

“It’s a remarkable story. The story of his professional career, but also his 13 years here, the highs and lows, he’s played in Europe, he’s been through all of it. With his personality, you don’t see many more like that.”