Jamie Vardy has enjoyed a remarkable career but now his time at Leicester City is about to finish it is intriguing to ponder what his next move will be.
After being rejected by Sheffield Wednesday at 16 and playing non-league football for Stockbridge Park Steels and Fleetwood Town, he joined the Foxes in a club record £1million deal scoring 200 goals in 500 appearances in all competitions.
He was instrumental in helping the club to an historic 5000/1 Premier League title in the 2015/16 campaign while also lifting the FA Cup four years ago and he won 26 caps for England, hitting the net seven times.
But now he has cleared his locker in the King Power Stadium dressing room and will part ways with the midlands club he has called home for the past 13 years when his contract expires on July 1 and the big question is where will he play next?
Wrexham and Birmingham are possible destinations but if he wanted to appear in the Championship he would surely have stayed where he was. He would love to stay in the top flight and Premier League newcomers Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland could all use an impact player capable of banging in the goals as they battle for top-flight survival.
But while Vardy will want to be one of the first names scrawled on his new club’s team sheet, at the ripe old age of 38 he may have to settle for a place on the bench rather than being a regular starter at that level, even if he remains fitter than a butcher’s dog.
A move to Saudi Arabia or Major League Soccer may appeal financially but so would being in the spotlight north of the border.
Both Celtic and Rangers would benefit from his services and there has been talk in Glasgow that Vardy may be heading to Ibrox.
New manager Russell Martin would know all about the striker’s prowess having watched his devastating finishing from close quarters when he was in charge at Southampton and helping Rangers climb out of Celtic’s shadow by winning the Scottish Premiership would not only enable Vardy to win another medal, it would make him an absolute legend in the blue half of the city.
Jamie Vardy next club odds
He’s 6/1 with Ladbrokes and Coral to join Everton, 5/1 with Unibet to join any Italian club and 4/1 with Coral and Ladbrokes to be playing for a side in the United States next season.
But a flutter on the 7/2 offered by those two firms and William Hill to sign for Rangers appears to be money in the bank.
Royal Ascot odds
There’s a couple of top-drawer races on the first day of Royal Ascot with the brilliant encounter between three Guineas winners topping the superb bill in the St James’ Palace Stakes.
Irish Guineas victor Field of Gold battles with 2,000 Guineas winner Ruling Court and French Guineas champion Henri Matisse and the former is favoured to be first past the post at 5/6 with Ladbrokes and Coral.
The opening race of the week-long meeting is just as appealing with Charlie Appleby’s Notable Speech getting the nod in the rematch of a brilliant Lockinge at Newbury at 6/1 with Bet Victor, while the trainer and jockey William Buick can enjoy a quick double in the Coventry Stakes. Military Code’s success over five furlongs at the Berkshire track last month has been franked by subsequent wins for beaten rivals and he’s 5/1 with Unibet.
American Affair has been handy this year, winning at York and Musselburgh and wasn’t far off in the Tempke Stakes at Haydock last time out and is worth an each-way bet in the King Charles III Stakes at 18/1 with Ladbrokes and Coral.
Tennis odds
Madison Keys makes her first appearance since her shock semi-final defeat to qualifier and eventual Queen’s champion Tatjana Maria when she faces Marketa Vondrousova in Berlin and America’s Australian Open winner is evens with bet365 to win in straight sets.