Leicester City struck an early blow ahead of the new Premier League season when leading striker Jamie Vardy signed a four-year contract extension with the champion Thursday. England international Vardy, whose 24 goals propelled Claudio Ranieri's side to a fairytale title, had been strongly linked with a move to Arsenal. "Leicester City have today agreed with the representatives of Jamie Vardy to extend the England international's contract with the Premier League champions for a further four years," the club said in a statement. "Both parties hope that this announcement will end recent speculation regarding Jamie's future and confirm his long term commitment to Leicester City Football Club." There were fears that Vardy's departure could have sparked an exodus of Leicester's key players such as PFA Player of the Season Riyad Mahrez and N'Golo Kante. Instead, the 29-year-old has signaled his intent to consolidate Leicester's new-found status and lead it in its first Champions League campaign. Media reports say Vardy's salary will rise to 100,000 pounds per week. The champion has already started strengthening with defender Luis Hernandez joining on a free transfer from La Liga side Sporting Gijon on a four-year contract this week. Hernandez's signing followed that of German keeper Ron-Robert Zieler from Hannover. Griezmann signs new Atletico deal Atletico Madrid forward Antoine Griezmann has signed a fresh deal with Atletico Madrid, keeping the France international at the La Liga side until 2021. Greizmann fired in 32 goals as Diego Simeone's side narrowly missed out on the Spanish title behind Real Madrid and champions Barcelona last season, but missed a penalty in the Champions League final defeat to city rival Real. The star forward "has renewed his contract with our club until June 30, 2021," Atletico announced in a statement Thursday. It said the 25-year-old "has enjoyed two excellent seasons in our team" since 2014 with a 57-goal haul. "I'm very happy, very happy to stay in this family and in this project," Griezmann added. "Every year I seek to improve and the club, the coach and my teammates allow me to. "My goal is always to improve on what was done the previous season." Griezmann is currently on duty with France at Euro 2016, scoring in the tournament host's 2-0 win over Albania last week. The new deal sees Griezmann extending his time at the Vicente Calderon by an additional year from his previous deal.
