NFL legend watches Kane's Bayern

Manning, who watched on as Harry Kane and Bayern stormed to a dominant 4-0 win at home to Bremen, spent 16 seasons with the New York Giants.

Now an influential pundit in the US, the 44-year-old may well have been on a scouting mission at the Allianz Arena, having previously said that his former franchise would be delighted to bring the England captain to the Big Apple after he hangs up his football boots.

"Of course he could do it," Manning told German media, confirming the thoughts of anyone who saw Kane's 2023/24 Goal of the Season against Darmstadt.

"The New York Giants would welcome Harry Kane as a new kicker anytime."

Kane, 32, has shown no signs of his goalscoring powers waning. He has 10 goals after just five matches of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season, and is on a record streak of 18 successive penalties scored since his arrival at Bayern in summer 2023.

The England captain is, however, a big NFL fan.

Watch: Kane - more than a goalscorer

"I've been following the NFL for about 10 years, and I love it," said Kane, who is a friend of record seven-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady.

"It's at least something that I have in the back of my mind. I have the feeling that I still have a lot of years left as a footballer, but a lot of things can happen, things can change so quickly. As I get closer to the end of my football career, I might take a closer look and start practicing a bit."

Though his penalty record in the Bundesliga is flawless, Kane poked fun at himelf and hinted at his potential future career after sending a spot-kick well over the crossbar while playing for Tottenham Hotspur in a 4-1 win at Southampton in December 2016 (see below).

Kane would not be the first Bundesliga star to switch from football to American football.

Horst Mühlmann was a goalkeeper for Schalke from 1962 to 1966 before joining the Cincinnati Bengals as a kicker in 1969, aged 29. He eventually played nine seasons in the NFL (Bengals 1969-74, Philadelphia Eagles 1975-77).

Former Borussia Dortmund forward and the Bundesliga's fifth all-time leading scorer, Manfred Burgsmüller, played for Düsseldorf-based team Rhein Fire in NFL Europe between 1996 and 2002, winning the World Bowl twice.

The most successful man to make the switch is Austrian Toni Fritsch, who won three Austrian Bundesliga titles with Rapid Vienna in the 1960s.

Nicknamed "Wembley Toni" for the brace he scored for his country at the iconic London stadium in a 3-2 come-from-behind win over England in 1965, he was spotted by then Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry on a scouting trip to Europe in 1971.

"I'd never seen a game before, I'd never seen a football," recalled Fritsch. "And I signed a contract with him a couple days later, a contract that I couldn't read, but it was maybe the best contract I ever signed in my life and my career." 

Fritsch spent 12 seasons in the NFL from 1971 and 1982 and remains the only Austrian to win the Super Bowl thanks to the Cowboys' triumph in 1982.

He also played for the San Diego Chargers and the New Orleans Saints, and made a Pro Bowl appearance while with the Houston Oilers in 1980.