Harry Kane and Tom Brady can bond over their journey from the bottom to the top.
The Premier League superstar revealed in an article ESPN the Magazine’s Bruce Schoenfeld published Tuesday he and the New England Patriots quarterback have become friends. The football-meets-football bond began on social media but tightened last month when Kane, an England-based Patriots fan, accepted Brady’s invitation to the team’s post-Super Bowl LIII party in Atlanta.
“We’d kind of become friends but had never met,” Kane said. “It was a bit strange. I hadn’t been a fan of any team since I was young and supporting Tottenham.”
Kane, who constantly was overlooked and rejected prior to his breakout 2014-15 season, said Brady’s progression from 199th pick in the 2000 NFL Draft to GOAT status inspires him to excel in his sport.
“I started watching him (Brady) on YouTube,” Kane said. “We’ve had a similar path being doubted when we were younger. Maybe not being the best athletes as kids.
“It was quite a big inspiration. 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.”
Kane, 25, has scored 125 goals in his Premier League career. He has averaged 24.4 goals goals in England’s top flight over the last five seasons and will challenge or break Alan Shearer’s record of 260 if he maintains those standards over the next five seasons.
And Premier League fans around the world might one day tip their caps to Brady for his role in helping an unheralded, unathletic striker set new standards for individual success in soccer’s most prestigious domestic league.
