Jamie Vardy determined to prove “doubters” wrong as he disagrees with reporter in live interview

Jamie Vardy says he is determined to prove the “doubters” wrong as he disagrees with a reporter in a live TV interview.

The Italian reporter said: “In Italy we are a little bit sceptical about players like you approaching their 40th birthday. We tend to say, where’s their motivation, how fit are they?”

Vardy replied: “You must be one of the doubters. You’re one that I’ll have to prove wrong. Listen, for me, age is just a number.

“I’ve always said, as long as my legs are still doing what they used to, and they feel as fresh as they do now, I’ll carry on. There’s no sign of slowing down, so I’ll be giving my all for this club.”

“You must be one of the doubters, you’re one I’ll have to prove wrong” 👀

38-year-old Jamie Vardy does not agree that he is past his best after a reporter questioned his move to Serie A side Cremonese 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/oJ1UFchoze

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) September 10, 2025

He explained: “When the interest came in, I had to sit down with my wife, kids and loved ones – it’s a big change.

“But the turning point was a Zoom call with the manager. We spoke for nearly an hour and just seeing the passion in his eyes – it really hit me.”

“It’s tough not being with the kids but it’s only temporary. Thanks to FaceTime, I’m still saying goodnight and chatting to them before training and school.

“We’ve already looked at fixtures – they’re buzzing to fly out and watch.

“My wife’s here with me and we’re both missing them but it’s not forever and they’ll be out here soon.”

Jamie, 38, also revealed he turned down approaches from other clubs to join Italian side Cremonese on a one-year contract with the option of a further year if Cremonese stay in the Italian top-flight.

Sky Sports News reports that Vardy rejected a late approach from Dutch side Feyenoord, while he was also linked with moves to Wrexham and Celtic.

“I don’t feel like naming the clubs I rejected. I made the decision with my family and I’m very happy,” said Vardy.

“When we talked about this possibility, I took many factors into consideration: first and foremost, my family.

“Luckily, technology helped us. I spoke on video with the coach for about 45-60 minutes, and he instilled his passion in me.

“I’m working to be ready when the coach needs me. If I think of Italy and an idol, I say Del Piero. I watched him a lot as a child.”

Talking to Cremonese’s media, Vardy said: I’ve been signed here and being here obviously I came last week as well what an unbelievable place it is. One thing I couldn’t get my head around your violins upstairs that are from like 15-1600s and they look brand new. Physically couldn’t get my head around it at all and then finding out the fact after that they need playing once a week just to keep the strings all having the same sound. It’s frightening what an unbelievable place it is.

Interviewer: Bit like you, need to play once a week to stay in tune as well. Cremonese is known as a relatively quiet town with a hard working population. What have you made of the people you’ve come into contact with so far? And it’s been a bit of a contrast, hasn’t it, with that real passion and enthusiasm that they showed when you first joined? I saw you signing someone’s tattoo, for instance.

Vardy: Yeah, no, it’s been great. Everyone’s been so welcoming. It was a bit crazy first few days, but I think that was just understandable. But yeah, I’m able to go and have a walk around and explore, which has been really nice. Having lunch, dinners at different restaurants. So yeah, all in all, it’s been a great week.

Interviewer: You’re not just here on your own, you’ve got your family as well, your wife with you here. How important are your family to you in terms of your career, in terms of this next chapter with Cremonese?

Vardy: No, they’re everything. Oh I wouldn’t be able to do what I do if I didn’t have the support of all them. As a whole, we know it’s going to be different, maybe a bit difficult to start with. It’s a challenge that we’re all ready for and there’s a lot of excitement, especially with the kids and getting to come to even more different stadiums, they’re already ticking off what games they want to come to and for them to learn a new language, it’s something that everyone’s really looking forward to.

Interviewer: You’re going to learn a new language as well, you’re going to get to know Italy, it’s your first experience outside of English football but you do have some people that you can lean on and you’ve played with Italians in the past and you’ve played under some Italian coaches in the past, what have they had to say to you in the lead-up to this move?

Vardy: No, they’ve been great. Obviously the ones I’ve spoken to are all really passionate about football, just like every supporter, every player is, and giving me advice and pointing me in the right direction of what would be best for me and my family out here and how the football is, saying that I’ll enjoy it, you always have to get these people to just give you a bit of influence to help and that’s what they do. I’ve been speaking to Enzo Maresca the whole of summer, we keep in touch so it’s good to be able to have him on the other end of the phone and him just giving me a few pointers about what’s to come.

Interviewer: I don’t know how familiar you are with Cremonese’ club history, but the club have won one piece of silverware in their history. It was the 1993 Anglo-Italian Cup.

Vardy: Yeah, they beat Derby.

Interviewer: Exactly. So you’re very well informed on that. That obviously triumph that came at Wembley, where you yourself have lifted silverware, the FA Cup, the Community Shield. Are you a believer in fate? Do you see any sort of significance in that?

Vardy: Personally, no. But what I do believe in is taking each game one by one, step by step, and just making sure that you’re giving 100 % for 90, 95 minutes in a game. And as long as you’re doing that, that picks results up. It’s a guarantee that it does so. Once you start doing that, you never know what could happen. But first and foremost is we have to make sure that we’re staying in Serie A and then we can build on that.

Interviewer: Talking of staying in Serie A, Cremonese is your newly promoted side. It’s an underdog story. Do you identify with that yourself in terms of your career? It’s not been a conventional rise to the top.

Vardy: Yeah, I mean, obviously speaking to the manager and what he wants really reminded me of getting promoted from the Championship with Leicester the first time and you in the same position. Odds on to go down, you hear it week in week out, but again we had a good group of lads that gave their all and that’s exactly what I see in the dressing room here. So that’s another reason why I wanted to come here and be a part of it and hopefully help the team out as much as possible.

Interviewer: For those supporters that don’t know you that well, what can they expect from Jamie Vardy here at Cremonese on the pitch?

Vardy: I wear my heart on my sleeve and I give 100 % no matter what the situation is, whether that’s winning, losing, just give it all, leave it all out on that pitch.

Interviewer: And finally, if you had a message for the supporters, what would that message be?

Vardy: Message I’d probably give is just enjoy the journey, enjoy the journey. It’s going to have ups and downs during the season, these things always do, but just enjoy it, stay with us and like I said we’ll make sure that we give it our all.