DURBAN - Bradley Carnell spent most of his career playing in Europe and that’s where he intends to expand his knowledge of football as a manager in the near future.
Carnell is currently with Major League Soccer (MLS) club New York Red Bulls, where he is serving as an assistant coach to former United States international Chris Armas.
In an interview with IOL Sport from the United States on Sunday, the former Bafana Bafana defender revealed that he has no intention of returning to South Africa at the moment.
“It is all about building blocks and baby steps,” Carnell explained. “How long am I intending to stay in the US? I don’t know. As long as I’m needed here, I’ll give everything here.
“If I have an opportunity to go back to Europe or do something else, wherever the profession is calling me ... I’m always ready for it. I’m really happy here.
“We have good people and a good organisation.
"It is really high quality every day. It is just about getting better, helping the team and making sure that I’m also getting better,” Carnell elaborated.
Before taking up his post as an assistant manager at the Red Bulls in 2017, Carnell was at Orlando Pirates, where he served in the same capacity.
“I want to hone my craft and get into step, where I’m coaching at a higher level ... Getting back to Europe is a big goal of mine. But right now I’m really happy and giving my all for the Red Bulls.
“I’m preparing for when one day I take on a team myself and take on the challenge of being the head coach when I’m fully equipped to do that,” Carnell said.
Carnell spent 12 years in Germany’s Bundesliga, playing for the likes of VfB Stuttgart and Borussia Mönchengladbach.
“Obviously, in the future, yes, I’ll consider a move to South Africa,” he continued.
“That’s my heritage and that’s my roots. Right now, I feel that I have an unfinished business in the market here in MLS, or even in Europe.
“We don’t know, maybe in a couple of years but we’ll see how it goes. There’s always ongoing contract negotiations. My deal comes up in December. We will see where that takes us.”
Carnell did have inquiries to his services in Europe last year, but those didn’t materialise into a concrete deal.
“There were one or two things back in Europe in late November for a couple of teams and those didn’t transpire. Like I said, I’m very happy at this current moment.”
The US has been hit hard by Covid-19 and so too the MLS.
As Carnell explained: “We started our pre-season in the middle of February. We played two games, won one and drew one, and then the week later the pandemic broke out.
“There’s talk about a tournament, a World Cup-like team tournament down in Florida. We will play three group games. We will be in Orlando for about 45 days,” Carnell said, adding that the MLS action is set to restart some time in July.