Jamie Vardy's leaving Leicester announcement | Kevin De Bruyne Man City drama
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Welcome to Back Pages, bringing you everything you need to know about the biggest sports stories making the headlines in the morning's newspapers. I'm David Garrido and joining me are the Guardian sports writer Jonathan Liu and the Independence chief football writer Miguel Delaney. Welcome along to you both.

OK, well, let's start off with Jamie Vardy, shall we? So, perhaps not a big surprise that he is leaving Leicester after 13 years. But what did you make of the timing of the announcement, Jonathan? We've still got some games to go in the Premier League season. Is it to alert other clubs to his availability? Is it to give him a proper swan song, a proper farewell that he deserves? How did you see it? Yeah, I mean, a mixture of them, I think. You know, he's...

His output has obviously declined quite a bit in the last two or three seasons. He was pretty good for Leicester in the Championship last season. He's obviously not the player he was back in 2016, 2015, 2016, when he broke that Premier League scoring record, where I think he almost changed the way, changed the course of the Premier League, certainly in the way he played. He was very much the product of a very particular era of the Premier League, when a lot of teams were playing very high possession, aggressive teams.

aggressive high lines and that's where he kind of feasted and obviously as he's got older as that pace has declined slightly he's not been the same threat but he can very clearly still do a job at a high level i'm not sure i'm not sure if he is still premier league class but i think there is that element of maybe wanting to get his name out there wanting to get the farewell wanting to get you know maybe maybe draw up some interest uh in whatever the next chapter of his career is at the age of 38

Miguel, the back page of the mirror says Leicester legend vows to play on. Where do you think he will be playing on then? Yeah, I mean, I do agree with Jonathan there in terms of maybe his standard right now. At this late point in his career where it's kind of obvious that he isn't what he was, especially given he was considered a player based on that electric pace, although really there was much more to him. I mean, for close to a decade, I think he was one of the Premier League's most distinctive and best forwards. I mean, he was electric to watch.

in a very different way than you would have expected, or sorry, than you would have seen in a lot of the Premier League at the time. So he's not quite what he was, but at the same time, we are in this era where, I mean, okay, it's not quite number nines are gone in the same way they were five years ago. We've had a bit of a resurgence, but it's a specific type of number nine, and it's not like there are actually many classic poachers at the moment, and this is an issue that clubs right through the division have had. We're going to talk about West Ham at some point later today. We're actually about their number nine a little bit, but they've

had a problem, say, in terms of being able to alternate their forwards or bring on that sort of striker. And this is maybe where there could be a role for him in the Premier League. Even if he's not necessarily a regular starter anymore, he can be an impact sub because he really has that very rare striker's instinct, something you don't see as much in the game now, or certainly not in the way he deployed it.

Jonathan, what do you think about his role in the folklore of the Premier League and what happened in 2016? But particularly not so much as a footballer, but as a person. The whole Jamie Vardy's having a party, those scenes at his house when Tottenham drew against Chelsea to hand them the title. It's almost like his character will almost live as long as his footballing exploits in terms of a very kind of normal, regular guy, as much of a fan as a footballer almost.

Yeah, that's very accurate, I think. I think for a certain strand of football supporter, he did represent a certain romance, coming from non-league, coming through the divisions, living the dream, almost, as it was. I wouldn't classify him personally as a Premier League player. He won't always be my cup of tea because I think some of the stuff he's done off the field disqualifies him from that for me. But you can't deny that I think a lot of these same qualities...

made him are a big part of his appeal. I think people liked that he wasn't out of central casting, that he kind of said what he thought and sort of wasn't too fussed about the consequences, that he did have a

You know, it's like the unconventional approach to preparing for the game or even talking about it. I think that will serve him actually quite well in whatever his post-football career brings. I think the betting companies will be queuing up to sign him up as an ambassador. Yeah. Yeah, no, I see what you're saying there. I think also, I mean, just looking at the back page of The Times, not bad for a lad from non-league.

I mean, look, this is a guy who joined Leicester at 25. He leaves at 38. He's won the Premier League and the FA Cup in between times, Miguel. You know, one for the dreamers, I guess. You know, you don't have to be coming through that academy at 16, 17, you know, and smashing it right from the off like a, like a Bakayasaka. You can do it this way and you can still have an incredible career doing it this way.

That's it. I mean, yeah, he stood out certainly in terms of what you're touching on there, David, with the academy system and maybe this perception that it has started to create a very clean level of talent. They're all smooth edges, a lot of academy products, whereas Vardy was almost described by a rawness and

and roughness that was so difficult for defenders to pin down. And also, of course, there's the way that story as well fed into the Leicester story in that the whole rags to riches thing, the defying modern standards, Vardy came to personify that in a sort of feat that maybe shouldn't have been possible in the modern game. And didn't just personify it, of course, but almost decided it with all those goals. I mean, really, when we look back in history now, obviously, all

all the different elements that made the Leicester story but the three most important you would think were really N'Golo Kante Riyad Mahrez and at the tip of it all the player that stayed the longest in Jamie Vardy and yeah I mean even the kind of defiance ended up kind of being articulated in a different way as Johnny's touched upon there I mean

I can't really think of too many modern footballers, especially given the acres of media training they get that are basically so willing to antagonise opposition fans. Especially fans of Tottenham Hotspur, actually. Varady kind of felt like we went at them...

almost more than any other club I suppose a lot of it related to the way that 2015-16 title race went all these memes about Lions and then pointing to the badge at various times since he's been back but yeah I mean he had that phrase that he tweeted at one point or posted on X these days and

that we can't repeat on the show. But he was very much, you know, it was about getting banged for talking. It was very much how he was willing to, yeah, to play out his career.

Yeah, a unique character, that's for sure. Let's put it that way. And from one Premier League winner to another, Kevin De Bruyne is also making headlines in the morning's newspapers. This is a back page of the Del Express. De Bruyne is set to snub City over Club World Cup. Jonathan, we're starting to get...

I don't know, a little bit more of the kind of warts and all of this now, the slightly harsher face of football. City released it without offering him any kind of contract, any chance to carry on the Etihad, and he seems to be stubbing them for when they head to the States in the summer.

Yeah, I think you can. I mean, we talked about the timing with Vardy's announcement. I think the timing of De Bruyne's announcement has actually been quite unfortunate in the way that it's played out because obviously De Bruyne was quite hurt, I think, that he didn't get offered a new contract by City and he's not a player who's going to hold his tongue, especially not at a time like this. And then we have this about, you know, obviously he's contractually obliged

obliged, I think, to play in the Club World Cup, but he's now saying that he won't do it. And I think that is, well, it's interesting on certain levels. I don't think he is pivotal to City's chances of winning if we care about that. But I think it's also a

I think it's quite telling as to how it's an insight into how a lot of other players might be viewing this summer competition. I think we are being we've been force fed quite a lot of it by FIFA that this is an incredibly important thing that we should all care about. And I think when a player like De Bruyne sends this kind of message, the people in the corridors of FIFA are not going to appreciate that.

How much, Miguel, does it sour the end of the very decorated decade that Kevin De Bruyne has spent at Manchester City? When these sort of things are looked back on from the perspective of history, you never really remember the end. People will remember all the trophies and with De Bruyne, all the moments that decorated and delivered those trophies. I've never seen a player like him, someone that can...

deliver a pass off almost any part of his foot in such a theatrical and spectacular way and that's what will live in the memory but I suppose for the moment rather than kind of souring his legacy at the club it just sours the goodbye a little bit because as you said yourself David there's an element of warts and all now it's only a few weeks since all that social media stuff went out in that way we always expect now as if it was very amicable but

goodbye since then de Bruyne has been quite open about how it wasn't his decision and now this where they have this you know as Jonathan touched on there this competition really that's been unilaterally imposed in the game by FIFA that certainly a lot of players don't care too much about clubs do want to play in it because there's so much money on offer

But yeah, if De Bruyne does go through with this really good story from the mirror, then it changes the dynamic around and points to...

a lot of players' feelings about it. But also, I mean, it does, again, reflect one of the complications of the tournament, which is when it's being played. I mean, this is one of the reasons why we've actually got two transfer windows, what are essentially two transfer windows this summer. One to account for the Club World Cup and then the normal one afterwards because it falls in this kind of strange period that runs across when player contracts usually end.

You mentioned a good story in the mirror on that for Kevin De Bruyne. But another really good story at the moment is the one that we're building up to on Saturday night, which is, of course, Chris Eubank Jr. against Connor Benn. And there's a piece in the inside pages of the Daily Telegraph sports section. And, Miguel, you've had a chance to read through the piece by Simon Briggs, who is their senior feature writer. I mean, it was interesting, isn't it? You know, we're a few days out from the fight and in

instead of the full-on trash talking, OK, we got a bit of that, but we got some real sort of outpouring and some real openness from Chris Eubank Jr, particularly on the relationship with his father that's been strained, to say the least. What did you make of Simon's take on it and the piece?

I mean, actually, I started to read it just to kind of, you know, fill in a few details for myself to discuss tonight. And then found myself in one of those situations where you start to read it and I couldn't stop because I was taken in by the piece itself. So I would advise people to read it for that reason. And one of the things that stood out, I mean, given all the discussions about the weight disparity,

really, I suppose, this fight is taking place because of that history. So it's probably going to be inevitable that also the history between the two families, or really the two fathers, actually informs a lot of the build-up to the fight as well. And I have to say, the outstanding feeling, as I read it, or the outstanding emotion was almost one of actually... This isn't something people maybe feel too often, but it was actually almost one of sympathy for Eubank Senior. And

especially this whole, you know, one of the major sort of parts of it about this kind of the freeze of the relationship between himself and his son, even separate to Eubanks Sr.'s questions about the fight itself. But yeah, it is all part of the sort of the tapestry around this. Jonathan.

Do you think there's, you know, is it part of a strategy? Is it just Chris Eubank Jr. just being him? Is it part of the context of this fight? This fight that's not just been, you know, a few years in the making, but several decades in the making with these two sons of the legendary fighters in the 1990s? Yeah, I mean, it's part of the sales pitch, isn't it? There are...

Yeah, lots of people that are going to hype this fight up, that are going to build it up. You know, you don't need me to do that. I just think it's, we've had two, more than two years of this, right? You know, we've had trash talk, we've had, you know, drug tests, we've had rancor, we've had court cases, we've had eggs produced from mysterious pockets.

And I think ultimately it's come down to this. It's come down to laundering the family history, which is ultimately the only reason why this, I mean, it's not the only reason why this fight is being made, but it's the only reason why it's being placed on such a big stage as this.

And I think, you know, after the amount of waiting that people have had to do, it's going to have to be a pretty sensational fight to live up to it. And I don't think, ultimately, these are two sensational fighters. I don't think Conor Bennett is, and I'm pretty sure Eubank isn't. So there is a huge amount of pressure, I think, on these two after all of the build-up, after all of the talk, after all of the theater around it to justify it in the ring. Because I think if they don't, if it isn't a great fight, I think, I don't think,

There is a lot of credit, there will be a lot of credit there with the fight public. We're going to go to the Daily Mail, guys. And what about this for a take, for a call? "Forget Mo Salah. "This is why I'm voting for Bruno Fernandes as player of the season," writes Ian Ladyman. I know you've read the piece. Do you see the case being made here, Jonathan? Do you agree? Can you see the logic?

I can see the logic and obviously as a member of the Football Writers Association, Ian has...

Much of a right to deploy his vote as he sees fit. You know, people vote for the Yorkshire party, people vote for the English Democrats, people voted for Jedward. And frankly, there's no reason why you can't vote for Bruno Fernandes. He's obviously had a great last few months with Manchester United and a struggling team. I don't know what he did in the first few months of the season, maybe the first three months, apart from getting sent off.

And I think if you wanted to make a case for a player who's had a talismanic effect on a team, you could probably go for Cole Palmer, who...

has scored more goals, certainly contributed more to a more successful team. He's had basically the same season as Bruno Fernandes, but in a different order, in that he was kind of electric in the first three months and has then faded. But neither of them are the football of the year, I don't think. I mean, there's still a couple of weeks to go until the voting closes, but I don't think either of them have done enough to do it. I think Isak has a good shout, I think.

I think I'm probably going to vote for Mo Salah because you don't overthink these things too much. But it is quite interesting that I think there's a little bit of a United premium, right? What you do for United because of the platform, because of the amount of volume it gets, people remember those things a little bit more. And yeah, he is a great player. He's had a great last few months, but is he the player of the year? He's not.

Clearly, I know what's happened here. You've had a Guardian WhatsApp group. They've gone to you, Jonathan, what word are you going to get into back pages tonight? And you've said, Jedward, I reckon I can do it. And you've made it. Well done. Where do you stand on this, Miguel? I mean, in terms of having the outsized impact for a struggling team versus just performing, you know, at that super elite level where the likes of Salah and Izak have been operating this season. Yeah, Ian's gone early, actually, because you're right. We don't have to...

put our vote in until the 8th of May. Now, usually that would actually be relevant because there's still some upper grabs. You want to anchor your vote to outcome and who has the most definitive impact on outcome. But obviously that's not really the case this season. And it's also where I think there is not quite a vacuum, but there's more of an open. Because even if we're looking at Salah, who my vote would probably lean towards,

or Van Dijk just on the basis that I always suppose personally always sort of base these things and again on that issue of whose individual impact has had the most influence in a season but given that Salah probably hasn't been at top level for a few months and

with Van Dijk. I mean, really, Liverpool have had the League One since March. So that's where those two votes go in. But it's almost because of that there's a bit more of an opening and then suddenly it's one of those seasons where there is a potential for maybe more wildcard entries. I probably wouldn't go for Bruno personally just because if you took Bruno out of the season...

Would United be renegaded, say, given where they are on the table? Probably not. They'd still have enough. He has been hugely important to kind of keeping them going. He's proven his own individual quality. He's actually been an exemplary captain. But I don't think it's up there given some of the other potential individual players. You know, Jonathan's mentioned Isaac. There's actually, a month ago, I would have been kind of maybe thrown a few options, like say from Bournemouth or even Brighton. That's maybe kind of receded a bit since. And yeah,

as Jonathan says... it's hard not to ultimately... lean towards... one of the kind of... one of the players... who's been most responsible... for the biggest feat of all...

which is the title. But, yeah, there's still a bit to... We've still got two weeks to make a decision, anyway. Let's just crack on through a few other stories. Back page of The Times, an exclusive from Martin Ziegler, which is revealed. "United lost Hazard after refusing to bung agent." So, yeah, United losing out on signing Eden Hazard after club chiefs refused his agent's demand for a secret multi-million pound payment. "It can be revealed," writes Martin.

I mean, is this much of a shock to you, Jonathan? Obviously, he ended up joining Chelsea anyway, but this was when he was at Lille and this was in 2012. So what's your take on it? Yeah, I remember this was like in the spring, summer of 2012. Everyone knew Hazard was going to leave Lille, obviously, and it was a huge transfer saga. I think there probably wasn't

a top club in Europe that wasn't linked with him or wasn't at least tracking him quite closely at that stage. So United is certainly not the only club to have lost out on him. Obviously, he went to Chelsea. There was this big announcement, I think, on this small social networking site called Twitter. He put out his decision. And this is a time, I think, when

The transfer market, I think, was a lot less regulated than it is now. So no, I think things like this don't surprise me. Frankly, I mean, it is quite a murky world. It is certainly a very opaque world in terms of agents and intermediaries and who gets paid what by whom.

I'm slightly surprised that it's a story 13 years later, maybe, but there is obviously this court case going on involving Hazard's agent at the moment. But yeah, it is an interesting counterfactual, what would have happened if United at the start of Ferguson's last season had got a player who went on to become one of the talents of his generation.

Let's move on to a piece that you've written yourself, Miguel, in The Independent about the bottom three who are going to be relegated. Obviously, we've lost two of them already. Ipswich, virtually down. And basically, it's hard if you're one of the teams promoted to the Premier League to stay there. Can you unpack it for us a little bit, Miguel?

So there's three things right now that's what's prompted me to write this piece. I know this has been a bit of a discussion for a while. One is St Hampton's kind of almost race to quote unquote beat Derby's record and almost kind of which has made a bit of a joke. And it looks like they're they're not or they have at least matched Derby now and have the chance to kind of go past them.

But then two is two records that actually might happen this weekend, that this is potentially, and it's likely to be really, the earliest point at which all three clubs in a Premier League season have been relegated. But also, it's the second successive season where the three promoted clubs have gone straight back down. That's the first time that's ever happened.

And I suppose the point I'm looking at in the piece, or what I'm examining, is whether all this is actually going to be a trend going forward. Whether we are going to have more kind of Hampton derby style discussions. Last season, there was a similar sort of thing with Sheffield United, who only got 16 points. There have already been three clubs to get under 20 in the Premier League. That could well go to four this season.

And also then, is this what we're going to see now for the future? Those who come up going straight back down? Because even if you look down to the championship, well, in the last five years alone, Leeds and Burnley have come up, gone down, come up again. If Sheffield United make it through the playoffs, they'll have come up and gone down, or sorry, maybe the opposite way, gone down and come up three times in six years.

And it does feel like there's actually something is developing there. Yes, people in the Premier League will say it's a small sample. It's too early to say this is a definitive trend. But you can also anchor it to kind of financial factors, which has formed such a central part of discussion around the independent football regulator, which is this massive financial gap, which is now well over five billion, I say well over three billion between the Premier League and the EFL.