Leicester striker Jamie Vardy sticks by decision to reject move to Arsenal

Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy remains convinced he made the right decision turning down a move to Arsenal in 2016 to remain at the King Power Stadium.

The 30-year-old was subject to a £20m (€22.4m) bid – an offer that activated his release clause – from the Gunners in the June following the Foxes' remarkable Premier League title win.

But instead of accepting the offer from Arsenal Vardy opted to remain in the East Midlands and signed a new four-year contract worth £100,000-a-week, earning him a total of £21m, according to The Guardian.

Though Leicester were unable to defend their title, as Claudio Ranieri was sacked and replaced by Craig Shakespeare, Vardy played a role in the club reaching the Champions League quarter-finals, where they were eventually castled by Atletico Madrid.

But despite the up and down campaign, Vardy, who netted 16 goals in all competitions, has no regrets about his decision.

"It's a decision that I came to [to reject Arsenal]," he told BBC Sport. "I thought about all the positives and negatives. I made my decision and stuck by my decision and I'm still here.

"You always say that [you want to stay] but the manager might get fed up with me and say 'on your bike' so we'll have to wait and see."

Arsenal never followed up their initial offer to Vardy and eventually signed Lucas Perez from Deportivo La Coruna. The Spanish striker lasted just a year in North London before returning to his homeland.

Meanwhile, Vardy has already scored six times this season, including twice against Arsenal on the opening weekend of the season.

Having made his major tournament bow with England at the European Championships in 2016, Vardy is keen to follow that up with an appearance at next year's World Cup in Russia.

He featured from the start in both of the recent friendly draws with Germany and Brazil but believes he must keeping working to remain in Gareth Southgate's plans.

"It would be massive," he added. "But I also know that to have a chance to be in that squad I have to be playing well for Leicester. So my man focus, when I'm not on international breaks, is all Leicester.

"Hopefully if I am doing well for the club as well and the team are doing well Leicester will be pushing up the table and I'll be putting myself in the hat for a chance to go to the World Cup."