Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers has hailed Jamie Vardy as one of the "elite strikers in world football".
The 33-year-old is the Premier League's leading scorer this season with 19 goals in just 26 top-flight outings, putting him well on course to surpass the 20-goal mark for the third time in the last five years.
Vardy has been particularly prolific since Rodgers took over from Claude Puel at the King Power Stadium, and the former Liverpool boss opened up on his appreciation for the striker since working with him at club level.
"Before I came in, I was watching him from afar and seeing him maintain that real quality that he has as a goalscorer and I was really looking forward to working with him when I arrived. I was seeing the quality in the games, but it was going to be interesting to see how he was on a day-to-day basis," Rodgers told Sky Sports News.
"But he is right up there with the elite strikers in world football, how he threatens the line and his explosive speed over a short distance is absolutely phenomenal. He is very focused, he is in his early 30s now but he's still as quick as ever.
"He has an appetite for the game and he's got that old school mentality where he wants to fight, he wants to run and his whole attitude to the game has been absolutely brilliant since I came in. He's a natural goalscorer, if you get the service to him, he will finish."
The coronavirus shutdown has left Vardy stranded on 99 Premier League goals from 202 top-flight appearances.
Barney Corkhill
