Jamie Vardy may have successfully found the ‘new Jamie Vardy’ after League Two club Stevenage offered a contract to Tamworth striker Danny Newton.

Newton has become the first graduate of Vardy’s V9 academy to sign a professional contract at a Football League club and has a strikingly similar background to the England striker.

The 26-year-old has been working in a factory, just as Vardy did before his big breakthrough, and managed to score 34 goals for non-League Tamworth in the National League North last season.

But Newton, nicknamed ‘wasp’ because he does not give defenders a minute’s peace, is now giving up his factory job in Leicester to pursue his dream, having never played professionally.

Vardy, who pledged over £100,000 of his own cash to the academy, did not play in the Football League until he was 25 and is excited that he has contributed to Newton getting his big break.