There is no doubt that as David Thornton (Saint Tong) born in the 1990s and Balotelli were once the hopes of Italian football. Thornton debuted at Inter Milan youth training and made her debut in Serie A at the age of 18.
Unlike those late-famous players, Thornton won 1280 minutes of league appearance in his first Serie A season, and also made his debut in the Champions League League. In the famous 2009/10 season, as a role player of the club, he won 15 appearances under the rule of Mourinho , and the team won the triple crown.
It is worth noting that Thornton missed 12 games due to injury, otherwise he would have played more times. Although she didn't play many times, she got the chance to get the gold medals in the Serie A, UEFA Champions League and Italian Cup . In the later Club World Cup match, he also got a chance to play. The team defeated Ma Zengbei 3-0 and won the championship.
Inter Milan won the five championships, and Thornton was one of them. No one will deny his talent, he may be the core of the defensive defence of the next Italian national team. In the summer of 2009, Thornton made his national team debut.
In order to seek more training opportunities, Inter Milan loaned him to Cesena for half a season. In the summer of 2012, Thornton left Meacha and transferred to Newcastle United. In fact, during the Magpies, Thornton has not yet gone downhill. Although he was affected by some injuries in the early stage, this did not change his position as a quasi-main in the team. Until 2014, due to a serious injury, he was forced to rest for half a year.
When I came back, Newcastle had nowhere to stay. Finally, Inter Milan accepted him during the reconstruction period. But at this time Inter Milan has begun to fall into a trough, and when the team is desolate, the problem of the back line will be magnified. Thornton also played for a while, but later he did not maintain a good state due to injury. He gradually became a substitute and even was unable to play in many cases.
In 2018, Thornton, whose halo is no longer, came to Rome, but in 4 years, his appearances have only been 50 times. Because of his intermittent injuries, he missed too many games. In the 20/21 season, he only received 608 minutes of playing time for one team.
21/22 season, he did not make it to the team's roster in the entire Serie A game. Even if Roma's coach is his former mentor Mourinho. But Roma's main formation has become a three-back, and Thornton is not enough to get a chance. It is difficult to give him too much time on the team's road to better results.
In this year, 31-year-old Thornton chose to hang his boots. The last time he made his debut in the Serie A was on May 23, 2021. Years of ups and downs made him look down on everything, and he chose to retire as tired. In fact, Thornton won eight championships in his career and almost achieved a Grand Slam honor (missing European Super Cup ). At the national team level, he has made 8 appearances, without goals or assists.
Thornton was selected for the 2009 Federation Cup roster, but there was no chance to make it. If there are any regrets, it may be that Thornton has no goal record in his Serie A career. He only had 6 assists in 143 appearances in Serie A and had never scored a goal.
After 2015, the 24-year-old Thornton faded out of the national team early. He is a genius who is too premature in aging and is far from reaching the expected height. The , which is slightly larger than him, has also been retired recently. They were all hopes for Italian football.
