Monday night’s goalless draw with Hellas Verona marked Jamie Vardy’s competitive debut for Cremonese. Additionally, opinions about the former Leicester City striker’s performance have been expressed by the Italian media.
After the Foxes were relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2024–2025 season, the 38-year-old left the King Power Stadium. It ended his 13-year tenure with the team, during which he won an FA Cup in 2021 and a renowned league title in 2015–16.
At the beginning of September, he completed a free transfer to Cremonese, who had just been promoted. And there was a lot of anticipation for Vardy’s arrival to Serie A after he scored 145 goals in the English top flight during his career.
Vardy’s Cremonese debut is difficult.
After defeating AC Milan and Sassuolo twice, Cremonese enjoyed a strong start to the 2025–26 campaign. As for their game against Hellas Verona, Vardy was listed as one of the replacements.
In the 59th minute, with the score still tied, manager Davide Nicola decided to substitute Federico Bonazzoli with the former Leicester player. Vardy just managed seven touches in 31 minutes and was unable to take a shot on goal, therefore he was unable to create the impact he wanted.
Vardy “failed to make much of an impact” on the match, according to Vermouth Deportivo, while Football Italia said that the Englishman and his squad had “fairly limited” opportunities during the match. They continued: “Vardy tried to open the scoring with a flick on Franco Vasquez’s speculative ball into the area with 10 minutes to go, but it was easily dealt with by Lorenzo Montipo.”
Forza Inter also expressed the opinion that Vardy’s debut was unimpressive, stating that he “failed to have an impact on the final result.” Although the visitors as a whole struggled, Goal Italia also stated that his debut for Cremonese was mainly a letdown.
“Vardy, who after several years in the English amateur leagues joined Leicester in 2012, staying there until 2025, failed to find the net on his debut, nor to fire a shot towards Montipò’s goal in a decidedly close match with just one shot on target from the visitors.”
In his upcoming match for his new team, Cremonese vs. Parma on Saturday, September 21, Vardy will be hoping for better luck. The Englishman could get his first goal because their opponents have struggled so far this term, giving up five goals and only managing one goal.
xz
