'Stradivardy' strikes right note as Cremonese unveil their new soloist

In Cremona everything is about music: the city, located in the heart of the Po Valley, is where the greatest luthier of all time, Antonio Stradivari, was born.

- Emanuele Giulianelli

His violins are today in the hands of some of the greatest musicians in the world and can fetch a price of more than £10m.

So it was no coincidence that the Violin Museum, in Piazza Guglielmo Marconi, was chosen to unveil who the city's football team, Cremonese, hope will become their greatest soloist: Jamie Vardy.

The excitement that the former Leicester forward has created in these parts is almost impossible to describe. The 38-year-old joining Cremonese - who are newly promoted to Serie A but have started the season with two successive wins including victory at Milan - was a shock to Grigiorossi fans and for Italian football as a whole.

"If a month ago someone had told me that today I would be here presenting Vardy, I would have called him crazy," the team's sporting director, Simone Giacchetta, said. "But in football sometimes certain distances can be bridged."