The 2019/20 Premier League season has come to an end, and as usual there were plenty of goals to keep footballing fans thoroughly entertained. The aim of each player is obviously to help their team finish in as high a position as possible, but for strikers there is another thing that they are interested in, and that is the Golden Boot. This is awarded to the player that scores the most goals in the season. This year, Jamie Vardy claimed the trophy with 23 goals in 38 matches. Below we will take a look at Vardy’s success story as well as the other four players who were challenging for the prize.
Jamie Vardy’s Rise to Success
Jamie Vardy’s story is one that fathers will be telling their sons for many years to come. How is that a player who was getting paid £30 a match in non-league football become a Premier League winner in such a short period of time? Vardy’s success is something that should inspire footballers all over the world.
At the age of 16, Sheffield Wednesday released him, stating that he was not good enough to make it at the top levels of English football. He ended up going to work in a carbon fibre factory, and it really looked like his odds of becoming a professional football looked extremely long. Even the most avid of gamblers would not have placed their money on him going on to become one of the most lethal strikers in the world. If you like to gamble yourself and are after the best odds to bet on the top scorer for next season, you should visit these best betting sites.
He then decided to sign for Stocksbridge Park Steels, who were playing their football in the eight-tier of English football. His debut for the club was one to forget – he failed to score and picked up a yellow card. He was getting £30 a match, but the footballing gods had a bigger future planned for him – they gave him blistering pace and an eye for goal. After three seasons and 66 goals, he made his way to Halifax Town. He stayed there for one season and scored 29 goals, and then signed for Fleetwood Town for £150,000.
In 2012, Leicester, who were playing in the Championship at the time, decided to take a punt on him and secured his services for £1 million, which was a record for a non-league footballer. He was now getting £45,000 pounds a week and living a dream. During the 2013/14 campaign, he showed that he could perform at this level by scoring 16 goals as he helped Leicester get promoted to the Premier League.
He scored his first Premier League goal versus Manchester United, and he also provided four assists in the same game as Leicester went on to win 5-3. They would finish their first season back in the First Division in a respectable 14th. The following year, they did something that only a few people bet on, and that was winning the Premier League title. During this season, he scored 24 goals, becoming the first player to score in 11 consecutive games in the Premier League. As well as Vardy, other great players came to the fore such as N’Golo Kanta and Riyad Mahrez – both of which were poached by Chelsea and Manchester City.
He has been scoring goals for fun since their Premier League success, and during the 2019/20 season, he scored 23 goals to become the oldest player to ever win the Golden Boot. Vardy’s story is one that you would expect to find in a work of fiction, and it is one that will never be emulated.
Who Challenged Him for the Golden Boot?
The final game of the season rolled around with Vardy on 23 goals, Southampton’s Danny Ings on 21, and Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on 20. Ings scored once in their 3-1 win over Sheffield United to leave him on 22 goals for the season, which is a very impressive tally considering Southampton struggled for large parts of the season, while Aubameyang scored a double against Watford to take his tally to 20 goals. Arsenal finished in 8th place, which is the lowest they have finished in many years, and it is safe to say that it would have been a lot worse had it not been for Aubameyang’s prowess in front of goal. Vardy failed to score in their match against Manchester United, but this did not matter as he still went on to pick up the prestigious golden boot.
