The former Leicester City striker, 39, joined Cremonese last August on a one-year deal that included an option for a second season if the club avoided relegation. Cremonese went down on the final day after a 4-1 home defeat to Como, finishing the campaign having won just 11 of their 38 league games. The option for a second year will not be triggered.
Vardy scored seven goals and contributed three assists in 29 appearances across the season. His return included a goal against Juventus — a strike that briefly captured the attention of the Italian press as an example of the pace and directness that made him one of the Premier League's most feared forwards during his peak years.
He leaves Cremonese as a free agent and is understood to be weighing his next move with the confidence of a man who believes he still has a level of football left in him.
"While my legs are still saying they're fine, I'll carry on," he told SportBible earlier this month.
Championship and League One clubs are monitoring the situation, with Sheffield Wednesday among those to have shown interest — a full circle moment for a player Wednesday released from their academy as a teenager before his extraordinary rise through the non-league pyramid. Celtic, currently managed by Martin O'Neill, and Wrexham have also been linked.
Feyenoord were interested this summer, as they were when Vardy left Leicester twelve months ago. The Dutch club's head coach Robin van Persie personally pursued a deal last year — an approach Vardy ultimately declined in favour of Cremonese. Whether Feyenoord return this summer is unclear.
Vardy scored 200 goals in 500 appearances for Leicester — a club-record that secured his place as one of the most unlikely but genuinely great stories in English football. He won the Premier League title in 2015-16, the FA Cup in 2021, and represented England at Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup, scoring seven goals in 26 appearances.
At 39, the arithmetic is increasingly against him. But then it always has been.