George Thorne: Ex-Derby midfielder plays for free at Oxford United
Former Derby midfielder George Thorne is playing for free at Oxford United in a bid to revive his career.
Thorne has not started a league game since March 2018 after injuries and a change of manager saw him fall out of favour at the Championship club.
He was loaned to Oxford in the first half of the season, but dislocated his shoulder just 23 minutes into his first start for the club in their 4-0 Carabao Cup win over West Ham in September.
Thorne is so desperate to prove himself again, he agreed to return to the club and play for free until the end of the season after agreeing a settlement on the rest of his Derby contract.
Thorne told Sky Sports News: „It was key for me to start enjoying football again. The last few years, because I haven’t been playing football and other things were going on, I wasn’t enjoying going into work at Derby and enjoying myself. I was going in and training with the kids.
„The most difficult thing is not being injured and still not being able to play. The biggest thing for me was to come somewhere with someone I trust, someone that trusts me, would allow me the opportunity to prove my ability and my fitness.“
That person was Karl Robinson. The Oxford manager shares the same agent as Thorne and the pair had bumped into each other several times over the years while on holiday. So when given the chance to bring him into his League One promotion chasers without eating into the club’s budget, it was a ‘no brainer’.
Robinson said: „He at one stage was one of the best players in the Championship. He was running games on his own, his weight of pass, his vision.
„He’s one of the nicest young men you’ll ever meet and he’s been through so much. I remember speaking to him when he did his shoulder and he was almost in tears, the conversation we had he said ‘gaffer I’ve had enough, I can’t mentally deal with this any more, my body can’t deal with it’, it was a very difficult conversation for us to have.
„He’s just an unbelievable character and by the way – he’s an exceptional footballer and we’re very very lucky to have him“
Described by Derby’s head coach Steve McClaren as a „young player with great potential“, Thorne even captained the side during the year they got to Wembley Stadium in the play-off final in 2013.
After Derby were beaten by QPR, Thorne suffered the first of two serious knee injuries the following season.
Even though he did feature regularly for Gary Rowett, he struggled to get back into the team during Frank Lampard and Philip Cocu’s regimes.
A loan spell at Luton last season yielded just three substitute appearances. So it’s no surprise the player who represented England at youth level is keen to make up for lost time
„I want to just find the love for it again, get myself playing, I’m a free agent in the summer and I’ve only just turned 27 so I still see myself having another good six or seven years (of playing).“
With nine games in February alone, Thorne is likely to get his wish in the coming months at Oxford.
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