Former Newcastle United defender Bradley Cross has revealed why he returned to South Africa after spending some time in Europe.
The left-back played for the German side Schalke 04 Under 19 before he moved to England where he turned out for Newcastle Under 21 and 23.
He was unattached for six months before he joined Maritzburg United in January this year. And with the Midlands side having suffered relegation, he has now joined Golden Arrows.
Cross says things became difficult when he was haunted by an injury at Newcastle. After not touching football for a while, he decided to return to South Africa to start on a clean slate.
BRADLEY CROSS ON WHY HE CAME BACK TO SOUTH AFRICA
“Overseas, it’s quite difficult, I tried in Germany, I tried in England and I got an injury unfortunately when I was at Newcastle [United],” said Cross.
“And then I came back to South Africa to do my rehab. I was out of football for too long and I needed to get back to football and get going again.
“I felt doing that in South Africa would be good for me, that’s the feeling I had.”
However, the 22-year-old is still picturing himself plying his trade at the highest level in Europe. He believes playing in the DStv Premiership would be a stepping stone for him to get a move back to the big leagues.
“For sure that’s my end goal. I definitely want to play in a big team obviously somewhere in Europe,” he continued.
“That’s my dream.”
The former Bidvest Wits man says he’s settling well in the local league because teams play in a high intensity.
“It’s good because the intensity here in South Africa isn’t quite fast and I’m enjoying it,” he added.
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