JAMIE VARDY has incredibly revealed his love of Skittles vodka nearly put the brakes on his incredible rise to prominence.
Following his £1million move to Leicester, the England star, 29, suffered a leg injury which refused to heal.
It was later brought to Foxes physio Dave Rennie’s attention that Vardy was partial to a glass or two of homemade Skittles vodka.
The trainer instantly told him to cut out the alcohol… With the injury miraculously clearing up.
The rest, as they say, is history, with Vardy topping the Premier League scoring charts in Leicester’s famous title-winning campaign.
Writing in his autobiography, ‘From Nowhere’, Vardy wrote: “I went nine games without scoring and one of the staff got an insight into the way I was living away from football.
“Perhaps they’d already guessed but the proof was in the pudding — well, actually in my bloodstream — after I was kicked on my calf in a home defeat on October 27.
“I had a dead leg — a fairly routine injury, but it was taking an age to get better.
RELATED STORIES
I had a three-litre vodka bottle at home I would put loads of Skittles sweets in.
“Once one batch had fully dissolved, I’d top it up with more — only the red or purple sweets because I don’t fancy the orange, green and yellow ones.
“I must have put a different batch in at least 20 times.
“After that, you can drink the vodka neat and it tastes just like Skittles. When I was bored at home in the evening I’d pour myself a glass, sit back and enjoy.
“The vodka was decent but it wasn’t doing much for my dead leg, which didn’t stop bleeding for ages.
“Dave Rennie, the physio, said he couldn’t believe it wasn’t improving. He’d seen a torn calf muscle heal quicker.
“He pulled me aside one day when nobody else was about. ‘What are you doing?’ Dave asked. ‘Nothing I wouldn’t normally do,’ I replied.
“Then I explained that what I’d normally do was drink Skittles vodka.
“’Well, that will be why, then,’ Dave said, looking a little shocked, before going on to explain the science behind it and how the alcohol was damaging the healing process.
“I got on a downer because the season wasn’t following the pattern of previous years, when I was used to scoring loads and being the main man.
“My way of dealing with that was to go and get p***ed with my mates in Sheffield.”
Leave a comment