FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Premier League - Leicester City v Ipswich Town - King Power Stadium, Leicester, Britain - May 18, 2025 Leicester City's Jamie Vardy celebrates scoring their first goal Action Images via Reuters/Craig Brough /File Photo
(Reuters) -Jamie Vardy says he feels as fit as ever and is keen to prove the doubters wrong as the 38-year-old begins a new chapter in his career at Serie A club Cremonese.
Vardy joined promoted Cremonese after leaving Leicester City, where he scored 200 goals in 500 appearances during a 13-year spell.
His move comes after Kevin De Bruyne (34) and Luka Modric (40) also arrived in the Italian top flight, and when asked by a reporter if veterans were still motivated to perform at the highest level Vardy said his desire had not dimmed.
"You must be one of the doubters. You're one that I'll have to prove wrong," he said on Wednesday.
"For me age is just a number. As long as ... my legs are doing exactly what they used to and still feel as fresh as they do then I will carry on.
"At the moment there are no signs of them slowing down so I'll keep going and I will be giving my all for this club."
Cremonese have made a flying start in Serie A with wins over Sassuolo and AC Milan leaving them third with six points from two matches.
Vardy, who was part of the Leicester side which won the Premier League in 2016, said everyone at the club would be keeping their feet firmly on the ground.
"The main task is making sure we stay in the league, and to be honest that's how it was when I was at Leicester," Vardy said.
"It was never any, 'we are going to go for this', it was always, 'we need to stay in the league', that's the main thing. So all you do, you go out, you take each game one-by-one, give your all, what will be will be."
Vardy could make his first appearance for Cremonese at Verona on Monday.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
