Newly-promoted Serie A side Cremonese have pulled off an exciting deal to bring former Premier League winner Jamie Vardy to the club on a free transfer, so how will the Englishman fit in, who are his new teammates and how have La Cremo got on in the top flight so far?
As was confirmed at the end of the Serie A deadline day, Cremonese have signed Vardy on a one-year contract, which will also include an option to extend for an additional 12 months.
Where will Vardy fit in for Cremonese?
The veteran Englishman is expected to be a regular for his new side, although it may take a little while for his debut to arrive given that he has not had much of a pre-season at all.
There will be plenty of opportunities for him to play later down the line, though, especially given that Davide Nicola prefers a 3-5-2 with two centre-forwards.
Nicola has already used two entirely different combinations of strikers for his first two matches of the Serie A season, starting Federico Bonazzoli and David Okereke for the surprise 2-1 win over Milan, and Franco Vasquez and Antonio Sanabria for Friday’s 3-2 win over Sassuolo.
What Vardy brings, however, despite his age, is blistering pace running in behind and a lethal eye for goal, to a level that Cremonese do not have with their current attacking options.
Who will Vardy play with in 2025-26?
Cremonese’s squad is not exactly filled with household names outside of Serie A, but their business over the course of the summer has been encouraging nonetheless.
La Cremo have managed to bring in a mixture of youth and proven Serie A experience with the likes of Warren Bondo on loan from Milan, centre-back Federico Baschirotto, who was on the scoresheet against the Rossoneri, and Antonio Sanabria from Torino.
Giuseppe Pezzella and Alessio Zerbin also bring proven Serie A experience to the team, along with the likes of Emil Audero and Milan youngster Filippo Terracciano.
All told, between loan signings, permanents and free transfers, Cremonese have brought in 15 players thus far, not including Vardy, nor Jeremy Sarmiento, who is also expected to join on loan before the end of the window.
Cremonese off to flying start
Cremonese could not have asked for a better start to their Serie A campaign. Having won promotion from Serie B via the play-offs last season, Nicola and his team were handed a tricky test away against Milan in San Siro to start their season, but stunned Serie A with a shock 2-1 victory over Massimiliano Allegri.
That has since been followed up with another encouraging 3-2 victory over newly-promoted Sassuolo thanks to a 93rd minute penalty on Friday night.
They did lose on penalties to Palermo in the opening round of the Coppa Italia, but this may come to benefit the team in the long run given that they will now only have Serie A matches to contend with until the end of the 2025-26 season.
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