Everton's Bold Move for Jamie Vardy on Free Transfer
Everton’s striker shortage has pushed the club towards a remarkable solution: a move for Jamie Vardy on a free transfer.
With the window shut and options scarce, the 39-year-old former England forward has emerged as a serious name on the Toffees’ radar, and the idea has gone down surprisingly well with supporters.
One striker, one big problem
Everton head into the autumn with just one senior centre-forward available after selling Beto on deadline day and failing to land Folarin Balogun.
That leaves Moyes – operating under tight constraints and a closed market – staring at a glaring hole up front. Any injury or dip in form for his lone striker Barry would be brutal. Points would slip, the table would tighten around them, and a season that already looks fragile could quickly tilt towards trouble.
So the club has little choice. If they want reinforcements before January, they have to find them among free agents.
Vardy back in the Premier League?
That is where Vardy comes in.
Released by Cremonese at the end of the 2025-26 campaign, the veteran has been assessing his options. He has already been linked with several clubs and is understood to have turned down an approach from Wrexham.
Now, a very different prospect is on the table: a return to the Premier League, with Everton considering whether his experience and penalty-box instincts could buy them time until the winter window.
On paper, it is a move easy to question. Vardy is well beyond his peak years and has not had a full pre-season. The risk is obvious.
Yet when The Sun revealed Everton’s interest, the backlash never arrived. Instead, fans flooded X with messages backing the idea, arguing that in their current predicament this is exactly the kind of short-term, opportunistic deal the club should be exploring.
Can Vardy still deliver?
Age has slowed him, but it has not silenced him.
Last season, Vardy scored seven goals in Serie A for Cremonese and claimed the league’s Player of the Month award in November. That return underlines a simple point: he still knows where the goal is at a high level.
No one at Goodison would realistically expect Leicester City–era numbers. Everton would not be signing the title-winning whirlwind who terrorised defences a decade ago.
They would be signing a specialist. Someone to poach a few goals, lean on his experience, and drag them through tight games when chances are scarce.
If Vardy were to chip in with a couple of crucial strikes – a scruffy equaliser here, a late winner there – it could be enough to keep Everton’s season on track until January, when the market opens and longer-term solutions can be pursued.
For now, though, it is all talk and consideration. Everton have not yet made a formal move.
The question is simple: with the squad so thin up front and the margins so fine, can they really afford not to?
