Leicester defender and all-round Balls.ie favourite, Christian Fuchs, is contemplating a move to the NFL once his career in football is over. That's right, not content with being one of the most interesting and engaging footballers in the Premier League, the Austrian is going to try and crack the U.S. by making it as a kicker over there.
“I have this ambition to be an NFL kicker," he told Sky Sports. "Seriously. Depending on the managers in the NFL. If they want a footballer in their team but I am very much up for it.”
This wouldn't be the first outside-the-box career move for Fuchs, after he left Schalke and the Bundesliga to join Leicester only to find that the club had sacked manager Nigel Pearson. He turned up anyway and under Claudio Ranieri, he's been nothing short of superb. True to his "No Fuchs Given" mantra, he just rolled with it and it paid off.
And if his claims about potential success are true, then he may be in for a big payday once he wraps things up in the Premier League.
I know I can kick 60 yards or so or 65 yards field goal. Let's see. Dreams can come true you know if you don't dream you won't reach anything.
The NFL record for the longest field goal made in a game is held by Matt Prater for his 64-yard smash in Denver's Sports Authority Field, a stadium noted for its high altitude which makes long field goals much easier.
Kickers are only on the field for a handful of plays each game, yet command a yearly salary between $500,000 and $4.5 million so if Fuchs can genuinely hit one through the bars from 60 yards out, this might be a very lucrative retirement plan for the happy-go-lucky defender.
