By Joe Heslop

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Leicester City’s goal scoring hero Jamie Vardy, voted as the eighth best player in the world in the Ballon d’Or votes on Monday night. The English striker finished one place behind team mate Riyhad Mahrez as Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his fourth Ballon d’Or title.

This completes Jamie Vardy’s rise from playing at the Non-League level for Fleetwood town just four years ago, to lining up for Leicester City in the Champions League. He became non-league’s most expensive player when he made the move, costing the now English champions one million pounds.

The 29-year-old striker was named as one of the top ten players in world football in 2016 and was joined on the list by Gareth Bale, Neymar and Saurez, who finished from sixth to fourth respectively. The top three being made up of Antione Greizman in third with Lionel Messi being beaten to the title by Real Madrid’s Ronaldo.

This comes just months after Jamie Vardy made his international debut for England in France, his first time at a major European tournament with the national side. Vardy made his first appearance for England in a friendly against the Republic of Ireland on 7th June 2015 coming on as a substitute. He has since gone on to score five goals for his country in 15 appearances.

The Sheffield-born striker has gone from strength to strength since breaking the record for most goals scored in consecutive English Premier League matches when he scored 11 in 11 last season, beating Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s record of ten goals in ten consecutive games.

Jamie Vardy also picked up awards during Leicester’s record breaking season last year as he was voted the Premier League player of the season and the Footballer Writers Associations player of the year.

Jamie Vardy started his career as a youngster at Sheffield Wednesday’s academy before being released and playing non-league for Stocksbridge Park Steelers who compete in the Northern Premier League, the eighth tier of English football. He then was signed up by Halifax town where he played during the 2010/2011 season and scored 27 goals in 37 appearances for the club. This goal scoring record brought him to the attention of Fleetwood Town who signed him up for the 2011/2012 season where he had an impressive record of 31 goals in 36 appearances.

It was this impressive goal to games played ratio that had clubs fighting over him with Cardiff City and Leicester City said to be battling it out. The midlands club landed the striker for one million pounds and he has since proved his worth with 54 goals in 149 games since signing for the Foxes in 2012.