English soccer star Harry Kane explained why he’s a Tom Brady superfan, and why he wants to play in the NFL
"Not many people thought he'd become that good, or even play in the NFL, and he went on to become the best ever."
It’s not often that the worlds of football and football collide as directly as the connection between Harry Kane and Tom Brady.
The Patriots quarterback and Tottenham striker are both near the top of their respective sports. Brady is coming off his sixth Super Bowl win. Kane – recently awarded an MBE by Prince William – has been the most prolific scorer in the English Premier League since 2014, and won the Golden Boot at the 2018 World Cup for most goals in the tournament.
The two communicate through social media, and met earlier this year following the Patriots’ win in Super Bowl LIII.
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Previously, Kane has explained why he’s such a Brady fan, citing the “Brady 6” documentary as his original portal into the New England quarterback’s story.
In a recent ESPN feature story, the 25-year-old captain of the men’s English national team outlined exactly why he identifies with Brady.
“We’ve had a similar path being doubted when we were younger,” Kane said. “Maybe not being the best athletes as kids.”
Kane, like Brady, wasn’t pegged as a future superstar in his youth. His unexpected rise to become an indispensable part of Tottenham’s starting lineup occurred against the odds, and after years of effort. Kane saw Brady as an example of a player who willed himself to become a superstar.
“It was quite a big inspiration,” Kane noted of Brady. “Not many people thought he’d become that good, or even play in the NFL, and he went on to become the best ever. At the time, it gave me a real boost to say, look, anything is possible. If you have that self-belief and that drive and that hunger, you can do it.”
Since winning a place in Tottenham’s starting 11, Kane has become one of the best strikers in Europe over the past five seasons, with clubs like Real Madrid perpetually rumored to be interested in signing him.
Yet Kane has one other burning ambition, as he explained to ESPN. He wants to play in the NFL as a kicker at some point.
“That’s real,” Kane said. “Something that in 10 or 12 years I definitely want to try.”
“If you play in the Premier League and the World Cup and you then play in the NFL,” Kane asked, “would you then be considered one of the greatest sportsmen ever?”
There is precedent for soccer players to become NFL kickers, though not quite at Kane’s level. And though US women’s midfielder Carli Lloyd never kicked in a live game, her field goal competition with Vince Wilfork was a high point on “Hard Knocks” in 2015.
