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Leicester City’s time in the Premier League is over for another year at the very least, and they are now preparing for life back in the Championship following relegation, as well as without Jamie Vardy.
It was a campaign to forget for the Foxes, as they finished 18th, a colossal 13 points from safety, as all three promoted sides from the 2023/24 season were relegated back to the second tier for the second successive year.
Leicester will now have to cope without Jamie Vardy, who announced that he will be leaving the club this summer after 13 years at the King Power Stadium, and finding a new striker to lead the East Midlands outfit onwards is a priority.
However, the legacy that has been left by the 38-year-old is irreplaceable and Gary Lineker, another Foxes legend, has paid tribute to the departing striker.
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Gary Lineker names Jamie Vardy as one of his 11 favourite Premier League players
Lineker spent seven years in the first team at his boyhood club Leicester before leaving and going on to play for the likes of Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Spanish giants Barcelona.
Despite his incredible career in the top flight of English football and in Europe, the Foxes are where his heart will always lie, and when asked for his favourite 11 Premier League players, the ex-England international named Vardy first.
He said (via: premierleague.com): “My Leicester bias obviously, but it’s for what he’s [Jamie Vardy] done at Leicester, coming to the club when he was in his mid-20s, [costing] a million quid. He’s just left, he’s just finished for Leicester and he’s been incredible.
“Goalscoring machine. To score 200 goals in 500 games in all competitions, it’s a hell of an achievement at a club that is generally a yo-yo club. Most of our [Leicester] history is in the top flight but often in the second tier – and that’s where we are going now!
“I think the fact that Leicester have been relegated twice since they won the league actually confirms the miracle that it was, and he [Vardy] was obviously a massive part of that, and in that [title-winning] season, he broke Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s record. It was incredible.”
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Leicester City have a tough season ahead of them
While they will be one of the favourites for promotion, Leicester have a huge overhaul to be conducted but financial issues in the background are also causing issues ahead of the summer.
Finding the right replacement for Jamie Vardy is going to be simply impossible, but in time the Foxes will find new heroes to guide them on their way back to where they were in years gone by.
With Russell Martin set to take charge at the King Power Stadium, Leicester are getting a young manager who has experience in winning promotion before. Nevertheless, he has a huge task in bringing a divided club back together as Vardy bids farewell.