Euro 2016: Vardy won’t start for England – Wenger

Paul Merson has been heard talking sense on talkSPORT about Jamie Vardy’s proposed move to Arsenal.

The striker also cemented his place in Roy Hodgson’s Euro 2016 squad and was voted the Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers’ Association.

Mahrez signed a contract extension with Leicester in August 2015 and is now earning £35,000-a-week – much less than Arsenal-bound team-mate Jamie Vardy who increased his pay packet to £80,000-a-week after agreeing an improved deal in February.

A Vardy exit, however, could open the floodgates as a flurry of approaches are expected from across Europe for the stars of last season’s surprise Premier League winning team.

With Arsenal fearing that his delay in making a decision could lead to a response they do not want to hear, the Evening Standard reports that Vardy is indeed leaning towards staying at the King Power Stadium.

Several players, including current Arsenal forward Olivier Giroud, and pundits have been supportive of his potential move to work with Arsene Wenger, but Merson, a former Arsenal midfielder, doubts the defensive forward’s playing style would be compatible with the Gunners.

“I don’t say this because he does not have the quality, but because he doesn’t have enough experience at that level to say the whole tournament will depend on Vardy”, Wenger told beIN Sports. They will be talking to the players face to face, on the phone or via Skype or Facebook, who the hell knows? He is flawless for them. Teams kick-off against Arsenal and immediately put 10 behind the ball and they’ve got to try and break them down.

“That is no disrespect to him”.

“In front of goal, he doesn’t think – he feels the situation and he shoots as soon as he can”.

That informal deadline came and went and with England now sharpening their preparations ahead of their opening match against Russian Federation on June 11, Vardy is showing total focus on the task at hand. “I mean, Ricardo Carvalho looked like Franz Beckenbauer”. But it has now been made clear to the squad that all attention must now turn to Saturday’s Group B opener against Russian Federation in Marseilles.