An unlikely career

Shock and excitement have gripped Brazil over the past 24 hours, after it emerged that São Paulo are considering signing a new player – none other than Jamie Vardy.

No one saw this coming.

The 39-year-old English striker is nearing the end of his career, which has been marked by records and monumental achievements.

Born in Sheffield, the centre-forward began his career at smaller clubs – Stocksbridge Park Steels, Halifax Town and Fleetwood Town – teams in the lower divisions of English football.

Leicester legend

In 2012, after his impressive performances as top scorer helped Fleetwood secure promotion to the Football League, he moved to Leicester City, then in the English second tier. Many people thought the new challenge would be too great for Vardy, but he proved the sceptics wrong.

Two years after joining the club, in 2014, Vardy helped the ‘Foxes’ secure promotion to the Premier League for the first time in ten years.

Just two years later, he achieved the impossible: he led the newly promoted team, considered outsiders, to a historic Premier League title. To this day, the feat is regarded by many as one of football’s greatest fairy-tale stories. It was Leicester’s first title in their 132-year history – something even more impressive given that the team had struggled greatly the previous season and had even been at risk of relegation.

Although the Premier League title was a team effort, Vardy was undoubtedly the key figure behind this unprecedented achievement. He was voted the league’s Player of the Season and finished eighth in that year’s Ballon d'Or.

But Vardy’s glory at the club was not confined to a single miraculous season.

In 2020, his 23 league goals made him the oldest player to win the Premier League Golden Boot, at the age of 33.

And, despite Leicester’s relegation in 2023, captain Vardy helped the club return to the top flight by winning the EFL Championship the very following year.

In total, he spent 13 seasons at Leicester, scoring 200 goals in 500 appearances, securing his place as the third-most capped player and third-highest goalscorer in the club’s history.

The adventure in Italy

After Leicester were relegated again in 2025, Vardy took his talent to Italy, where he played for newly promoted Cremonese in Italy’s Serie A.

He scored seven goals in 26 appearances for the club and, in November, was named the league’s Player of the Month, becoming the first Englishman to receive the award.

As the season drew to a close, so too did Vardy’s contract with Cremonese. From then on, fans were left in suspense as to where he would next showcase his goal-scoring instinct and his well-known charisma.

It came as a real bombshell, however, when it was revealed that São Paulo were interested in signing the Englishman.

Vardy could make history in Brazil

Virtually no English player has ever played in the Brazilian Série A Championship – the famous ‘Brasileirão’ – throughout the competition’s history. The most notable exception came only this year, with Jesse Lingard.

Lingard, a product of Manchester United’s youth academy and a mainstay at the club for many years, joined one of São Paulo’s local rivals, Corinthians, in March.

The 33-year-old attacking midfielder had previously played alongside Vardy both at Leicester, when he was loaned by United to the club in 2012, and for the England national team. Vardy scored 7 goals in 26 appearances for the national team between 2015 and 2018, whilst Lingard scored 6 in 32 appearances between 2016 and 2021.

And although Lingard is the only high-profile English player to have moved to Brazilian football in recent years, other big names in European football have made similar moves, such as Memphis Depay, who joined Corinthians from Atlético Madrid in 2024.

Other former Brazilian players, who were Premier League idols, are also currently playing in the Brazilian league, such as Thiago Silva (Fluminense) and Lucas Paquetá (Flamengo).

The challenge at São Paulo

São Paulo is one of the most successful clubs in South America, having won 44 official titles since its foundation in 1930, and is the only club in Brazil to have won every available title. The club also takes pride in its three world titles, won in 1992, 1993 and 2005.

In recent years, however, the team has struggled to replicate the achievements of previous generations. Despite winning the Copa do Brasil in 2023 and the Supercopa do Brasil in 2024, their last Brasileirão title came in 2008. The club is also enduring a long run without a league win and is just a few points above the relegation zone, with its last victory coming at the end of April.

With an 18-year drought without a domestic title and more than three months without a win, Vardy would face quite a challenge should he decide to sign for the club.

He would also have to compete for a place with the Argentine Jonathan Calleri, who has already scored 74 goals for the ‘Tricolor’ and recently renewed his contract with the club until 2028.

With all these obstacles in the way, as well as the high salary that Vardy would certainly demand, it is still unclear whether the transfer will go ahead in the coming days or weeks.

In any case, it would be a very exciting prospect for Vardy’s fans, São Paulo supporters and Brazilian football as a whole.

Jamie Vardy’s career statistics:

  • Matches: 753

  • Goals: 331

  • Titles: 8