Burnley boss Sean Dyche has expressed his admiration for Jamie Vardy and the “big gamble” that took the striker to Leicester seven years ago.

Vardy joined the Foxes for a fee believed to be in the region of £1million in May 2012 after helping Fleetwood win what is now known as the National League.

The 32-year-old has gone on to score over 100 goals for Leicester, star in their unforgettable Premier League title triumph of 2015-16 and play 26 times for England.

Dyche had a year-long stint in charge at Watford – his first managerial role – finish in July 2012 before becoming Burnley boss in October.

At his press conference ahead of the Clarets’ trip to Leicester on Saturday, Dyche spoke about Vardy and Burnley forward Ashley Barnes, another player who has gone from non-league to the top flight.

Regarding the former, he said: “Leicester (who were, like Burnley and Watford, a Championship club at the time) took a big gamble. I think (then Leicester boss) Nigel Pearson paid a million quid at the time, and that is out of non-league.

“We (Watford) were in for him – but we were in for him for about two-and-a-half quid I think! We offered £2.97 and some boots, some balls and bibs at the time! No, it was a lot of money, but the risk has paid off tenfold, or however many fold.

“Let me make it clear – we were distantly in for him. Trust me, the figure never got anywhere near a moment in time that we were going to sign him, not even close.

“We were among a number of clubs who went, ‘really like that, could we achieve that?’ It was very quick, ‘no’. Because at that time the club certainly wasn’t spending a lot of money. So it was a very quick ‘no’.”

When asked what he had seen in Vardy at that point, Dyche said: “What you see now. Pace, movement, an eye for goal obviously, and there is a hardiness to his character, and I think Barnesy has got it as well.

“He has obviously polished it, but the movement, the pace and that will to score a goal, a real demand to score a goal – you can almost sense it on him.

“There were strong signs that he had a lot to offer and he has polished up accordingly, both from him himself and the varying coaching staffs and people he has worked with.

“I think it was Nigel really – Nigel signed him – or their system. Nigel worked with him and managed to start the process of him getting the best out of himself, or the coaches getting the best out of him.”

Vardy has scored five league goals this season, while Barnes – who is a doubt for Saturday’s match due to a groin issue – has netted four.

Dyche said: “He (Vardy) has had his fair share of things that didn’t go his way, but he keeps earning the right to make it go his way, and I think Barnesy is the same. They continually earn the right to push their careers, and I think that is a brilliant thing for anyone to look at.

“Certainly if I was a non-league player, or lower-league player, I’d be looking at it and thinking, ‘it can be done’, because those two are living proof of it, and continue to be.”

Enda Stevens has challenged the Republic of Ireland to keep skipper Seamus Coleman’s Euro 2020 dream alive in his absence when they face Denmark in a winner-takes-all shoot-out next month.

The Republic will lower the curtain on their Group D campaign against familiar foes at the Aviva Stadium on a night when victory would almost certainly send them to the finals.

However, they will have to achieve it without 31-year-old Everton full-back Coleman, who will be suspended following his dismissal for two bookable offences in Tuesday night’s 2-0 defeat in Switzerland just 10 days after receiving his marching orders for his club at Burnley.

Asked if that could provide added motivation, Stevens said: “Yes, that’s what we’ve got to do, we’ve got to do it for each other.

“Seamus is so disappointed in there, but he’ll be the one giving us a pat on the back now against Denmark and he’ll be still leading the line for us. He’ll be cheering us on and giving us that confidence to go out and perform.”

The game will be the sixth meeting between the sides in two years, a run of fixtures which has resulted to date in four draws and a thumping 5-1 World Cup qualifier victory for the Danes in Dublin.

That has to change this time around if Ireland are to progress, and Sheffield United defender Stevens, who returned from suspension in Geneva after losing his ever-present tag for the campaign in Georgia three days earlier, is in no mood to pass up that chance.

He said: “They (Switzerland) were saying it was a cup final for them, we said it was a cup final for us tonight. Fortunately we’ve got another cup final now next.

“We would have taken one win out of two games gets you to the Euros, so we’ve got to look forward to that, and especially being at home in the Aviva Stadium.

“Hopefully we can really knuckle down and get the three points that we need.”

Ireland were under the cosh at the Stade de Geneva after Haris Seferovic had fired the home side into an early lead, but they kept themselves in the game, thanks in part to keeper Darren Randolph, who turned away a Seferovic header and then saved Ricardo Rodriguez’s 77th-minute penalty to give them hope until Shane Duffy’s late own goal ended it.

Stevens said: “He (Randolph) kept us in the game and we were pushing and pushing, and it was obviously disappointing to concede the second goal in the last minute.

“To be fair, Darren got me out of jail a few times with corners and that, so he was excellent all night. He’s been doing that at Middlesbrough all throughout the season, so you kind of expect them from him now at this stage.”