London — It’s almost not even worth pointing out that Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy has had the career that all non-league players dream of.
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In fact, it’s been the career that almost any man or woman dreams of. From being plucked from non-league football to winning the Premier League with Leicester City and representing England, it couldn’t get much better and Vardy’s story is something that everyone can get behind.
Which is why it may seem a little bit spoilt and unrealistic to feel that we’re already due another Vardy story, but everyone does think that, and dreaming is the whole point anyway.
Besides, it seems we’ve got a pretty good contender in Leyton Orient’s Macauley Bonne. At only 22 years old, the young man is showing a lot of promise and has plenty of time yet for a meteoric Vardy-like rise from non-league football.
He’s a prolific striker and is loved by his club’s supporters. He has also performed better than ever since arriving at Leyton from Colchester United in 2017.
And still he continues to please, playing a key role for his club, in what has so far been an incredibly successful season.
This is only his second season at Leyton and his first saw him score an enviable total of 25 goals in 52 matches.
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That was the first time in his career that he went into double figure scoring in a single season. This season he’s already scored an impressive 13 goals in 18 matches, in what looks to be something of a statement of intent from a hungry young player.
And hungry he will have to be to follow in Vardy’s footsteps. Vardy, 31, made the move to Leicester — then a championship side — back in 2012, for £1 million. Since then, he’s achieved more than anyone would have dreamed.
From being promoted to the elite league, to winning the Premiership, to playing in both the Euro Championships and World Cup for his national side.
In fact, he’s now even following David Cameron’s lead by speaking at the Oxford Student Union next month.
Amazingly, over the summer he was also rumoured to be linked with Spanish outfit, Atletico Madrid. That move would have seen him go from non-league football to a strong Spanish side who are expected to do well in the Champions League previews in the space of six years.
It’s unbelievable accomplishment what he has accomplished in such a short period of time and what he has done for the profile of non-league football.
But that does not mean we are not ready for another similar story and fans will be watching with bated breath to see whether young Bonne can follow in his footsteps.
It already looks as though this season he may outdo his sensational performance at Leyton last year, in which case he surely makes himself a prime contender for a higher league team.
If there’s one thing managers simply can’t afford to ignore, it’s goals and Bonne is slotting enough of them to grab the headlines. Hopefully, we will see another Vardy-like rise sooner than we expected.
