Jamie Vardy: Leicester boss Ruud van Nistelrooy praises inspirational striker

With a 38th birthday coming up next month, it would not be inconceivable to think Jamie Vardy might show signs of slowing down.

Yet the arrival of Ruud van Nistelrooy as Leicester boss has reignited the Foxes captain and, arguably, the club’s greatest player.

Trailing to goals from Brighton’s Tariq Lamptey and Yankuba Minteh with just four minutes left, Leicester were facing a first defeat in two games under their new manager.

But up stepped Vardy to halve the deficit, before turning provider in the first minute of added time to clinch a dramatic 2-2 comeback draw against the seventh-placed Seagulls.

In typical fashion, the former England international found space on the left of the box and looked set to bend a finish into the far corner until he spotted the supporting run of Bobby De Cordova-Reid, who calmly slotted home from close range.

Van Nistelrooy, a feared striker himself with goal-laden spells at PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United, Real Madrid and the Netherlands, saluted “top-class” Vardy.

“If you are on the scoresheet and make an assist, then you have to say this result would not be possible without him,” he said.

“It’s also the performance of the whole team, of course, that puts him in position. I enjoyed the whole sequence leading up to the goal and that’s why, we as a team, we put him in a position there.

“That’s why we want these players who can make the difference for us in position. Then Jamie had the awareness for that second goal, because I think you know with strikers, their eyes are focused on the goals.”