Sorba Thomas’s spectacular rise from Boreham Wood to playing for Wales

10-Oct-2021 13:28:39 | Guardian

The fast-improving Huddersfield winger has become a cult hero overnight after making his international debut

On Friday night Sorba Thomas charted another memorable moment in his spectacular rise, coming off the bench in Prague to make his Wales debut in a World Cup qualifier nine months on from leaving Boreham Wood to join Huddersfield in the Championship. “In the first meeting we had with him, we asked him about his career goals, his hopes, and he said he wants to play for Wales,” says Leigh Bromby, Huddersfield’s head of football operations. “He was adamant. He said: ‘I want to play for Wales because of my mum.’”

Thomas – who qualifies to play for Wales through his Newport-born mother, Gail – spent a chunk of the summer doing beach runs in Porthcawl in an attempt to hit the ground running this season. He reported two weeks early for pre-season in June, training with Huddersfield’s B team while most of the first team were still on holiday, and in August the winger, whose tally of six league assists is bettered only by Paul Pogba across the top four tiers, won the Championship player of the month award. “That was the standout moment for me, where it was ‘he’s taking this really seriously, he’s absorbed it all,’” says Bromby. “He came back fitter and stronger than anyone else.”