Chelsea, Man City battle for Vardy

Chelsea may face January competition for the £30 million-rated striker Jamie Vardy from Manchester City but Leicester City will fight to retain their centre-forward.

Vardy is on Chelsea’s list of targets for the January transfer window and Telegraph Sport can reveal City have made a tentative check on the 28-year-old.

Leicester, the Premier League leaders, are determined to keep Vardy and will offer him a new contract and a salary increase, but it is unlikely to stop Chelsea making a January bid.

City’s interest is not thought to be anywhere near as strong as Chelsea’s at the moment and there has been no indication that they are currently lining up a bid.

But an offer from Chelsea or another significant injury to Sergio Agüero may persuade City to target Vardy, who is eligible for the Champions League and would boost their home-grown quota.

City have been caught short in the striker department this season, with Wilfried Bony and teenager Kelechi Iheanacho the only alternatives to the injury-prone Agüero.

City’s squad already contains the maximum 17 foreign players so Iheanacho had to be left out of the club’s 21-man squad for the group stages of the Champions League. Signing Vardy would present no such problems for the knock-out phase and improve Manuel Pellegrini’s striking options.

Chelsea have been short of goals this season – Diego Costa has suffered a crisis of confidence while on-loan Radmael Falcao has failed to make any sort of positive impact.

Vardy, who broke Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record by scoring in 11 consecutive Premier League games, has 15 goals in total including strikes against Manchester United and Chelsea.

The striker still has 2½ years left on his £40,000-a-week contract, but Leicester are preparing to offer of a new deal. That may be enough to keep Vardy at the King Power Stadium, but the player may also be aware that the January transfer window could represent his most realistic chance of moving to one of England’s biggest clubs.

Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri has reiterated his belief that both Vardy and Riyad Mahrez will stay at the club in January.