Article body analysed
By LUKE POWER, SPORTS REPORTER Published: 18: 14 AEST, 2 September 2025 | Updated: 19: 14 AEST, 2 September 2025 17 View comments Jamie Vardy may have thought he was signing up for sun and spaghetti as he arrived in Italy to a mob of supporters on Sunday night. What the former England forward might not have bargained for was playing alongside the great-grandson of one of Europe's most notorious fascist dictators. Vardy, 38, has signed for Serie A new boys Cremonese and will line up alongside young full-back Romano Mussolini. The 22-year-old was drafted in on loan from Lazio earlier this summer. His full name is Romano Benito Floriani Mussolini, and though he actually insists on taking the surname Mussolini, not Floriani, he says he has no interest in politics. That hasn't stopped the association filtering into football. When he scored his first professional goal last December, fans responded by performing the Roman salute, which was frequently adopted by his great-grandfather. He put his finger to his lips while celebrating but fans chanted his name and performed the salute nevertheless. Jamie Vardy will play alongside Benito Mussolin's great-grandson (not pictured) at Cremonese The 38-year-old has joined the newly promoted Serie A side in the violin capital of the world Mussolini's great-grandson Romano signed on loan from Lazio earlier this summer In all seriousness, Vardy has not enlisted for a fun continental jaunt to wind down his career. The Leicester legend has likely joined a fierce relegation battle with a side who have been relegated six times out of the eight seasons they have spent in Serie A. But Cremonese have made a decent fist of the transfer window, won their first two games against AC Milan and Sassuolo, and hired the Harry Houdini of Italian football: manager Davide Nicola, who has finished 17th in Serie A five times with five different clubs. Despite his age, Vardy has nothing to prove - last season he still managed to bang in 10 goals for Leicester, though they were relegated. He has penned a one-year contract with the option of a further year with Cremonese, who are based in Lombardy, the same region as Juventus and Torino. Arriving at Milan's Linate Airport on Sunday night, he was greeted by passionate fans who sang 'take us to Europe'. He will spend his new life in Italy with his wife Rebekah Vardy after turning down the chance to join Feyenoord - despite gaffer Robin van Persie personally calling him to try and attract him. Rebekah flew to Italy straight from a holiday to join Jamie ahead of their move to Italy Romano takes the Mussolini surname optionally but insists he is not political Perhaps they will indulge in some musical delights. Their new city, Cremona, is known as the violin capital of the world. Vardy leaves behind a great legacy in England, having won the 2015-16 Premier League title with Leicester and scored 200 goals in 500 appearances for the Foxes. All in all for club and country, spanning all the way from his non-league days, Vardy has 324 career goals. In a short club media video where he pretended to ink his signature on a contract, he said: 'Forza Cremo! ' It's a start in his new language, and he will take inspiration from the successes of fellow Brits Scott Mc Tominay and Billy Gilmour at Napoli, who have been taught Italian by none other than Antonio Conte and won Serie A last season.
Share what you think
The comments below have not been moderated.
The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of Mail Online.
By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your Mail Online comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to Mail Online as usual. Do you want to automatically post your Mail Online comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to Mail Online as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on Mail Online. To do this we will link your Mail Online account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy. Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd