Everyone knows exaggeration goes hand-in-hand with top-flight football. "This man is the new (XYZ)!", "You couldn't write this" and "Twat! That was liquid football!"
Leicester City's Premier League win, however, not only lives up to, but succeeds every cliche in the book. Outside of London or Manchester, Leicester are the first team to win the Premier League since Blackburn in 1995. They are England's first new champions since 1978 and had victory odds of 5000/1 at the start of the season. City's golden-boy, Jamie Vardy, is now the first player to score in 11 consecutive Premier League games, overhauling Ruud van Nistelrooy's 12-year record.
Their rags-to-riches, against-all-odds story is 132 years in the making. It's something few of us have seen before - and may never see again. For my money, to borrow a cliche, it's the perfect indictment of football being the greatest and most omnipresent game in the world.
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Interestingly, the transformation of Leicester City, at least in the later months, has tied in with the EU referendum. Crucially, with the issues which may or not affect footballers from the Continent.
In the eyes of the Remain camp, free movement is likely to be hindered if Britain votes to leave, which would then arguably hinder overseas transfers as well as the current reputation of the Premier League as a sporting salad bowl. But what's bluster and what's bang on the money?
Riyad Mahrez, for instance, a French-born winger who boasts 17 goals and 11 assists for Leicester City may not have been able to have been signed by the club in 2014 were it not for EU free movement.
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Around two thirds of Premier League players from the EU would struggle to meet the criteria currently used for non-Europeans to get a work visa automatically, according to a Guardian study. In order to play in the Premier League, footballers outside the EU must be capped regularly for a top 50-ranked national team. Failing this, they could still enter if their old club is playing top-flight football and their new one is offering serious sheets in a transfer fee.
But Mahrez debuted for Leicester in January 2014 - four months prior to his debut for Algeria. And he joined from French second-tier team Le Havre for a transfer fee of just £350,000, which is a bargain considering the average fee in the Premier League per player is just over £9 million. Today, Mahrez is worth £15 million.
His story would've likely been a rarity if the EU didn't permit free movement to the extent it does. Sure, his place in the Algerian squad would've made a move to Britain easier, but wealthier clubs would have beaten Leicester to him - who at the time were in the Championship.
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Was he that vital, though? Mahrez contributed three goals to Leicester's Championship win the same year they signed him, then four in their first season back in the Premier League. As for this season, when you include assists, he's been responsible for more goals than Vardy.
It's a good argument to 'Stay', isn't it? Then again, if you voted 'Leave', would that not finally give leeway to "home-grown talent"? Would the sacrifice of European players be worth it if it meant stocking our regional sides with more Vardy's, and thus our national side?
As I've said before, the jury's still out until the June 23 vote. If you haven't registered and want to, click here.
Words by Josh Teal
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Image credit: PA
Featured Image Credit:Topics: EU referendum