Jamie Vardy has all but called time on his England career after holding talks with manager Gareth Southgate. The Leicester City striker has won 26 caps since making his debut in 2015, scoring seven goals. Vardy revealed he initially told Gareth Southgate after the World Cup that he was considering retiring and it seems he has made up his mind ahead of the Uefa Nation League fixtures against Spain and Switzerland.
The 31-year-old revealed an interview with The Guardian that there were a number of factors behind his decision, including his age, spending time with his family and the general acceptance that he will play second fiddle to Harry Kane.
“To be honest with you, this has been on my mind for a while,” Vardy said.
“I’m not getting any younger and you can see, to be fair to the gaffer, he wants to make it more youthful, which obviously had its benefits during the World Cup – we got to the semi-finals and finished fourth, which is equal to the furthest we have ever been on foreign soil.
“So I just said to Gareth that I think it’s probably best from now on, especially with the way he wants to go, to bring youngsters in who he thinks have got the ability and start nurturing them into international football.”
Vardy added that he would consider ending his retirement “if the worst came to happen and everyone was injured.”
Leicester boss Claude Puel had warned Jamie Vardy he is not guaranteed to walk back into the team.
The England striker starts a three-game ban when the Foxes head to Southampton on Saturday.
He was sent off in last week’s 2-0 win over Wolves and Kelechi Iheanacho, Demarai Gray and Shinji Okazaki are now on stand-by to replace him.
Puel is prepared to give the trio a shot of keeping Vardy out of the side.
He said: “He’s a valuable player for us but we cannot play all the season with one striker with the possibility to score.