Streaming giant Netflix has done a deal to produce a documentary series about a larger-than-life Premier League star’s path from austere origins in non-league football to the summit of the English game.
Jamie Vardy spearheaded Leicester City’s famous Premier League title win in 2015-16, the Foxes’ first top-flight title, and has captivated English football ever since.
Whether he’s scoring wildly underappreciated goals or cupping his ears in front of walls of baying opposition supporters, there’s no denying the boy from Sheffield is box office. Netflix has snapped up the rights to tell the tale of his rise from Stocksbridge Park Steels to the Champions League in ten years.
Anything David Beckham can do…
Netflix’s recent sporting docuseries include a look at David Beckham’s life and a forthcoming documentary about Vinicius Junior. All three players worked their way to the top from modest beginnings but we can expect Vardy’s series to have a certain spicy something the others do not.
After being released by Sheffield Wednesday as a teenager, Vardy was a prolific scorer in non-league for Stocksbridge and then FC Halifax Town before firing fifth-tier Fleetwood Town into the EFL in 2011/12. His first game as a league player came in the Championship after he made a record-breaking move to Leicester.
The rest is history and it’s a history we’re thoroughly looking forward to revisiting on screen.
Vardy, who is ranked at number 48 in FourFourTwo‘s list of the best Premier League players of all time, was a key player for the Foxes as they got promoted, avoided relegation under Nigel Pearson after looking dead and buried, and then bagged a historic Premier League title that will never be forgotten. They added an FA Cup win five years later for good measure.
He played 26 times for England and is the only player to have scored more than 100 Premier League goals in his thirties, and he’s still going. He’s been the Premier League Player of the Season and the Football Writers’ Footballer of the Year. He’s won the Premier League Golden Boot.
It’s Vardy’s football journey that’s most compelling but we can all be delighted that Netflix will give us a glimpse into the home life of a player who’s exceptional on the pitch but is more than a little mischievous and definitely isn’t shy away from football.
Jamie isn’t the only Vardy who knows how to grab a headline.
Rebekah Vardy has become a household name too, and there are plenty of potential viewers who will be much more excited to have a peek behind closed doors to see what she’s up to than they will be about Jamie’s goal-happy, ankle-clipping exploits in Yorkshire non-league.
Reports suggest that one successful docuseries could lead to another, with Rebekah apparently in line for a follow-up if Jamie’s series hits the mark.
Don’t hold your breath for an appearance from the Rooneys in either one.