Meet Nathan Thomas

NATHAN Thomas was prepared to travel the length of the country in search of first-team football.

The 19-year-old winger, who signed for Argyle on Christmas Eve, hails from Newcastle and was an apprentice at Sunderland, but is fully committed to being a Janner until at least the end of the current season.

“It’s a long way, but I’m not bothered how far away it is,” said the left-footed wide man, “as long as I get the chance to play first-team football. I’ll get home once a month to see my family if I can, but this is more important at this moment in time.

“The big thing about coming out of Sunderland was looking at the first team and thinking ‘I am not going to play in this first team until I am at least 25’, and I couldn’t sit around for six years.

“For the development of myself, this is the best move for me. Hopefully, I can push on and prove I can play at this level.

“I started off at Newcastle and I moved, when I was 14, to Sunderland. I was at Sunderland for four years and did really well. I got in and around the first team a little bit. Then, as happens in football, you fall out with some people and I ended up wanting a new path. I wanted to play some real football, some league football.

“I went round other clubs but there wasn’t a right move. The only way I was going to move was if it was right for me. Coming here is the right move for me.

“I got offers off maybe eight or nine different clubs, good offers, Premier League clubs, but I wanted the chance to go and play first-team football. I’ve played reserve team from when I was 16 so this was the next step for me.

Nathan appears to be cut from the same cloth as other exciting attacking players that Argyle manager John Sheridan has brought to Home Park.

“I like to think I’m very direct in the way I play,” he said. “I like to go past people. I like to score goals. I think I’m a little bit different to what we’ve already got here.  I don’t think there are many players in the league that do what I do.”

Nathan will wear the number 19 shirt and has gone straight into the Pilgrims’ squad for their Boxing Day match at Sky Bet League 2 leaders Oxford United.