You'd think that after racking up 19 clubs in 24 years as a boss, Carlos Carvalhal might fancy putting down some roots.
But the much-travelled Braga coach’s feet are starting to tingle with that familiar itch.
With his two-year contract at the Portuguese outfit up this summer, it appears the former Swansea and Sheffield Wednesday gaffer is set to head off on his wanders once again.
He’s already admitted he’d be open to a return to Turkey, where he had stints in charge of Besiktas and Istanbul Basaksehir.
But a return to Britain also clearly holds a strong appeal for the 56-year-old.
He’s made the most of his return to the UK spotlight this week ahead of tonight’s Europa League clash with Rangers, doing the rounds with papers and radio stations north and south of the border.
He even took time out after his official UEFA press conference to speak to the Scottish press pack who had travelled to Portugal to hear his thoughts ahead of the quarter-final clash, ditching his translator to chew the fat in English while laughing as he poked fun at the pasty limbs on show.
But there was no shying away from the fact he feels the clash with Gio van Bronckhorst ’s team is the perfect platform to take his management career back to the big time.
But he also reckons the European stage offers a golden opportunity for his band of fresh-faced starlets to audition for a dream move to the Premier League themselves.
Skipper Ricardo Horta has been linked with Liverpool and Arsenal, while midfield ace David Carmo has also been watched by Jurgen Klopp’s Anfield spies. Carvalhal said: “We have this expectation that the big clubs can look to us.
“Of course like the players, it’s the same for the manager.
“So we have the expectation that someone will look to us and say come and work with us. We’ve had it in the past with clubs who said ‘We want you because we want to play like your team is playing at the moment’.
“This is very positive. We have an opportunity not just to show this to England, but to all the world.
“We’ve got the youngest team left in the Europa League. We have a lot of young boys with qualities.
“David Carmo was linked last year with Liverpool. We have a lot of talented players aged 17, 18, 19 who want to play in England.
“They now have a good opportunity to show their abilities to the clubs across the world.
“The clubs will look to the manager but also the players.”
While Carvalhal’s troops are bounding into tonight’s clash full of confidence after beating domestic big guns Benfica on Friday, their opponents are having to pick themselves up off the floor after being hit with a knock-out blow in Sunday’s Old Firm Premiership clash.
The Braga boss was at Ibrox to see them lose to Celtic but expects Gers to come out swinging, even if they are missing star man Alfredo Morelos. He said: “I know the mentality of the Scottish teams and British teams, they don’t cry over spilt milk.
“It’s over and they will be focused on our game.
“Of course, it was a heavy defeat but I know they will overcome this adversity. British people and Scottish people are very good at this.
“As for the Rangers team, it’s good. Morelos will not play but I can say the same, I have two or three injuries and I can say that if I have my players then we will be better because I have better options
“We have got injuries, Rangers have injuries, this is part of the game.
“I saw for myself the great capacities Rangers have and we will try and exploit their weaknesses.
“All teams have weaknesses. I took away a very positive picture of Rangers from the weekend so I know it will be difficult.
“I am not optimistic, I am realistic. Rangers are a solid team who will create chances, they play a very similar system.
“They have a very experienced goalkeeper. They are a very compact team and very difficult to beat.
“But they have defensive gaps which we will try and take advantage of in this first leg.
“Listen, we have weaknesses also. The manager of Rangers will look at us and say the same.
“We have strong points and weak points, all the teams in the world have weak points.
“Our job is to look at our opponents and see the strong points and weak points and try to exploit them.
“Nothing will be decided tomorrow, that’s for sure.
“I respect Rangers because if you are at this stage of the competition then you are a very good team. It will be 50-50.”
Ibrox club chiefs are expecting as many as 10,000 travelling supporters to jet out as they seek a repeat of their victory here back in 2020.
Carvalhal was blown away by the Old Firm derby din on Sunday – now he hopes that the Portuguese punters can create a similar atmosphere and help his team silence the Ibrox faithful just like Celtic did in Govan.
He said: “We need to play our part, we want to be better than our opponent on the field and of course our supporters have their part to play to push the team.
“We will welcome supporters from Rangers.
“I saw the game last Sunday and the behaviour of the Rangers fans last week was amazing.
“I want to welcome all the supporters from Glasgow but I hope our supporters can make more noise and I hope we can win the game.”
