Arsene Wenger has no regrets over failing to bring Jamie Vardy to Arsenal last summer

The Englishman decided to sign a new contract to stay at Leicester in the end

Vardy said it was an 'easy decision' to turn down Arsenal (Getty)

Arsene Wenger has insisted he holds no regrets about not signing Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy last summer.

The England striker’s 24 goals had fired Leicester City to the title and he was named Football Writers’ Association player of the year.

Wenger was interested in bringing him to Arsenal and held talks with him on a number of occasions only for Vardy to instead sign a new deal with the Foxes – something he said at the time was “an easy decision”.

He also had reservations about the role he would have played at the Emirates, given Leicester’s success was built on a foundation of counter-attacking football, whereas Arsenal’s possession-based game is very much the opposite.

But Wenger insisted there were no guarantees as to how Vardy would have fared in his team and that he did everything he could to persuade the 30-year-old to join ahead of Leicester’s trip to the Emirates on Wednesday night.

When asked if it was his intention to make Vardy his main striker, Wenger said: “No, he was one of the strikers available. When you come to a big club you can’t guarantee that to anybody.

“I believe we did what we wanted to do [in trying to persuade him to join].

“No [I do not regret not signing him]. Transfers, successful or not successful are part of it.

“You have to accept the decisions of the player. He made that decision and I respect that completely, you have to move forward and look at something else.”