Jamie Vardy forced to cancel 2020 V9 Academy camp days after graduate Sam McCallum completes £3m Norwich transfer

The Leicester striker has bankrolled the past two camps – since its launch in 2016 – which have helped non-league players find clubs in England's top four divisions.

Sam McCallum is the most recent success story as he completed a £3million January transfer to Norwich from Coventry – just 18 months after featuring in the V9 Academy.

Vardy played non-league football with Halifax Town and Fleetwood Town before earning a £1m move to Leicester in 2012.

Since then he has helped the Foxes win promotion to the top flight and lift a Premier League title in 2016.

Clubs players have joined from the V9 Academy

Sam McCallum (Coventry)

Andy Dales (Scunthorpe)

Ben Stephens (Macclesfield Town)

Alex Penny (Peterborough)

Lamar Reynolds (Newport County)

Josh Heaton, Cody Cooke (St Mirren)

Blair Turgott, Danny Newton (Stevenage)

Vardy co-founded the V9 Academy with wife Rebekah and agent John Morris in the hope of non-league players replicating his journey to the Premier League.

The former England forward has called on external support to help fund the academy.

Vardy told the Mail: "What V9 has proved is that there are a lot of lads in non-league who are good enough to step up if given the opportunity.

“Me and Sam [McCallum] as well as the other success stories from V9 have proven that.

"We would like to keep providing this platform for non-league players and hopefully somebody out there will show some interest in supporting V9 going forward."

The V9 Academy's previous two camps have taken place at Manchester City's Etihad academy and ran for five days.

Jamie Vardy has been forced to close his 2020 V9 Academy camp due to a lack of funding from sponsors.