Marcus Thuram and Timothy Weah add touch of nostalgia to Italian renaissance

On an autumn evening a little under three years ago, Marcus Thuram arrived at Italy’s most fabled stadium. A zealous steward was reluctant to let him in.

The France winger, then of the Borussia Monchengladbach team who were about to train at San Siro ahead of a Champions League fixture against Inter Milan, had mislaid his players’ pass. So he reached for his phone, did a search on himself, and showed the steward the proof he was actually quite a well-known footballer.

He might have added to the middle-aged steward that if he didn’t recognise Marcus, he would certainly know of Marcus’s father, Lilian Thuram, who won 142 caps for France and spent his peak years playing in Italy, reliably man-marking AC Milan and Inter strikers at San Siro while in the jerseys of Parma or Juventus.

Lilian’s oldest son, named after Marcus Garvey the Jamaican political activist, was born in Parma. At the weekend, ahead of his official unveiling as Inter’s first major signing of the summer, 25-year-old Thuram described how he never lost his affection for Italy. “I grew up as a kid watching Serie A,” he said, “and saw so many champions. Coming to Serie A is like coming home.”

It is also a coup for Inter. Marcus, a France international, had interest from the English Premier League and from Barcelona, where his father also played.

The upcoming Italian season will be boon for nostalgics who remember when Serie A was considered the world’s best domestic league because it could attract the likes of Lilian, a World Cup winner with France, and strikers such as George Weah, awarded the Ballon d’Or while with AC Milan.

George Weah playing for AC Milan against Parma in Serie A in 1995. Getty

Just as Marcus was signing for Inter, Timothy Weah, son of