Leicester City vice-chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha admits Jamie Vardy came close to being axed in his first months at the club.

Srivaddhanaprabha said the non-league hotshot did not know how to deal with his new-found wealth after his £1million transfer from Fleetwood to Leicester in 2012.

Srivaddhanaprabha said that Vardy quickly went off the rails and went out drinking every night of the week.

He told A Day magazine in Thailand: “He went straight from the bottom to the Championship, which eventually led him to start drinking booze every single day. We had no idea what to do.

“I didn't even know about this until someone told me that he came to train while he was still drunk.

“So I went to talk to him myself, I asked 'do you wish to end your career like this? Do you want to stay here like this? We'll let your contract run out then release you. Don't expect a better career path.'

“He said he didn't know what to do with his life. He'd never earned such a large amount of money. So I asked him 'what's your dream?

“'How do you think your life should be? Just think carefully about what would you do for the club. I invested in you, do you have something in return?'

“After that he simply quit drinking and started working hard in training. His physicality wasn't as good as it is now.

“We know he had explosive acceleration, but we simply had no idea he could be this good.

“He's adapting, working on fitness training, he's turned into a new person. And that's better."