Jamie Vardy lookalike joins Leicester City squad on coach to celebrate Premier League title victory

Lee Chapman was spotted by the players and invited onto the team coach on the way to the San Carlo Pizzeria for lunch

Jack de Menezes
Tuesday 03 May 2016 09:46 EDT
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Jamie Vardy alongside his lookalike Lee Chapman
Jamie Vardy alongside his lookalike Lee Chapman (Twitter/@LCFC)

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The Leicester City players attended a special lunch on Tuesday to celebrate their Premier League title success, and have decided to pick up a Jamie Vardy lookalike along the way.

Lee Chapman, a postman from Leicester, appeared on Sky Sports’ Soccer AM TV show last weekend where he confirmed that he has recently taken up a role as being Leicester striker Vardy’s lookalike.

Chapman, who at 29 years old is the same age as Vardy, sprinted his morning round in order to finish for the day and travel to the King Power Stadium to join the title celebrations with other fans. However, the Foxes supporter got more than he bargained for.

As the team made their way to a coach that was taking them to lunch at the San Carlo Pizzeria restaurant with the club’s owners, the Srivaddhanaprabha family, some of them spotted Chapman and invited him onto the bus.

Not only did he get his picture taken standing alongside Vardy, Chapman was invited to join the squad and manager Claudio Ranieri for the journey, with the rest of the squad visibly enjoying the sight of two Vardys in one place.

Unfortuantely for Chapman, the royal treatment stopped there as whe wasn't allowed inside the restaurant to join the celebrations. However, he took full advantage of his new-found fame, with a number of fans who were gathered outside asking him to pose alongside them for selfies.

Chapman appeared on Soccer AM last weekend as Vardy's lookalike
Chapman appeared on Soccer AM last weekend as Vardy's lookalike (Reuters)
The Leicester owners took the squad to the San Carlo Pizzeria in Leicester
The Leicester owners took the squad to the San Carlo Pizzeria in Leicester (PA)

Leicester were crowned Premier League champions for the first time in their history on Monday night after Tottenham failed to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, meaning they can no longer mathematically catch the league leaders.

Vardy has proven instrumental in Leicester’s fairy tale story, having scored 22 league goals this season after helping to keep the Foxes in the top flight last year. Having sat bottom of the league table under Nigel Pearson’s managerial reign at Christmas in 2014, Leicester mounted an incredible run of form to beat the drop and remain in the Premier League, with Ranieri coming in last summer before leading the Foxes to the top of the league this term.

Leicester wins Premier League

The players gather at Vardy’s house on Monday night to watch the match between Chelsea and Spurs, with video footage capturing the moment that the final whistle blew at Stamford Bridge to bring an end to the 2-2 draw and trigger wild celebrations in Vardy’s kitchen as well as across the entire city of Leicester.

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