One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson is in the frame to star as Jamie Vardy in the upcoming film biopic about the Leicester City frontman.

Adrian Butchart, screenwriter for the Goal! films, is behind the "rags-to-riches" tale charting Vardy's rise from the lower echelons of English football to become the Premier League's top scorer.

Tomlinson, who has been linked with a takeover of his childhood club Doncaster Rovers in the past, has now emerged as the favourite to take on the role of Vardy when filming begins later this year.

"We are looking at a few actors," Butchart told the Daily Mail. "Zac Efron and Robert Pattinson are two favourites, however One Direction's Louis Tomlinson is also very much on our radar. He's apparently a great footballer, he can act and he's from South Yorkshire so the accent won't be a problem for him.

"In fact we hear he's a Jamie Vardy fan, he even tweeted Jamie when he broke the goal-scoring record in November."

Leonardo DiCaprio, 41, has also been linked with the part of Vardy.