Jamie Vardy

Leicester's talisman is on a scoring tear this season, and it's no wonder. After several seasons coming close, Jamie Vardy has turned into the absolute epitome of a target man. He's currently rated 92 for getting shots off and 98 for receiving balls in the box – basically, no striker in the Premier League gets the ball in box more often than he does, and he manages to shoot more often than almost anyone else as well.

And it's not as though Vardy's getting better opportunities than anyone else. In our models, his overall attacking output is still mediocre for a striker, because he doesn't create much for others and the quality of his chances is about the same as for guys like Sergio Aguero and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. But here's the thing – he's also one of the best finishers in the world, rated 96 among strikers. So those so-so chances end up in the back of the net much more often than they would for a generic striker.

By our numbers, Vardy has about a 65% of scoring at least once from a batch of shots where an average Premier League striker would score 50% of the time. That's a huge difference, perhaps a 30% improvement in the effective scoring rate per match for a high-volume striker. Vardy isn't as effective with his head – he's actually below average for Premier League strikers – but the vast majority of shots are with his feet, so it hardly matters.

One interest twist in Vardy's stats this season has come in his link-up passing and, consequently, his ball retention. Brendan Rodgers has brought his intense passing style to Leicester City, and Vardy's link-up passing is up to 73 (from 43 last season). Safer actions have also pushed his ball retention up to 62 (from 24 last season), which is great for a player who's relatively weak in ground duels.

So what do you get when you take the epitome of a target man, add spectacular finishing, and make the ball stick to him? One of the most dangerous weapons in the Premier League. He may be 32, but he's not slowing down yet.

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[Photo: Кирилл Венедиктов]