10 non-league players who made it big in the Premier League
The Premier League has done and continues to do a splendid job of convincing the uninitiated sports fan that it is, in fact, the greatest and most spectacular assembly of sporting talent on the planet. Only the very best players of the highest possible sophistication can survive at the top level.Except that’s not quite true. Though youngsters at the top clubs theoretically have an advantage over those from less glamorous backgrounds, multiple are the instances of players emerging from the rough-and-tumble of non-league football and making these supposedly top notch talents look rather silly in comparison.Here are ten such players who had humble beginnings, but went on to thrive in the Premier League.
#1 Jamie Vardy
Jamie Vardy the first team professional first saw the light of day at Stocksbridge Park Steels in 2007. Over the next five years, before his transfer to Leicester City in 2012, Vardy also played for Halifax Town and Fleetwood Town.
Leicester’s difficult first season in the Premier League, rescued by their great escape in the final few weeks, was somewhat mitigated by the form of Leonardo Ulloa. The most impressive result, however, came in September 2014 and was engineered by Jamie Vardy: a 5-3 home defeat of Manchester United announced the arrival of a scruffy louse who nobody would have hitherto looked twice at.
It began a wave the Yorkshireman rode to fourteen goals so far this new season, an England call-up and a Premier League record. It is all a far cry from a 7 a.m. wake-up time to juggle both work and training for a £30-a-week wage.