Meet the Sunderland wonderkid, 17, who’s a mix of Foden and Keane
It appears that Chris Rigg will be the next big thing in English football.
Less than 15 minutes had passed since CHRIS RIGG last played senior football
when the club captain of Sunderland delivered the first decisive decision.
In January 2023, the 15-year-old student was substituted off the bench in the
FA Cup against League One Shrewsbury, with the goal of motivating his team
to a thrilling 2-1 victory.
Luke O’Nien, who had just scored the game-winning goal in the 94th minute,
went to the on-pitch camera and said, “What a player,” pointing at Rigg just after the final whistle.
Everyone who witnesses the teenage thrill for the first time now repeats this observation.
Despite only turning 17 this summer, Rigg is already the cornerstone of a Sunderland team
that is riding high in the Championship heading into tonight’s visit from promotion rivals Leeds.
He is regarded as the best outfield player to graduate from the Academy of Light
since Jordan Henderson, a fellow center midfielder who later captained his nation and
led Liverpool to Premier League and Champions League success.
Now that some of the biggest clubs in Europe are keeping an eye on Rigg,
it is predicted that he will reach even higher heights.
And to think that because he is too young to drink,
he is only now learning how to drive and was given chocolates instead of champagne
after his man-of-the-match performance against Middlesbrough last month.
The Sunderland defender Chris Mepham remarked of the player, “He is miles beyond his age.”
He exudes an air of experience and maturity. He’ll have a wonderful career.’
Rigg’s midfield partner Dan Neil continued, saying, “His ceiling is whatever he wants it to be.”
Everybody’s eyebrows shot up the moment he trained with us,
and we thought we had a player on our hands.
After captaining the Under 16s and Under 17, Rigg now leads the England Under 18s.
A scout compared Rigg to Captain Marvel himself, Bryan Robson, citing his bravery,
leadership, and drive.
The Sunderland manager who handed Rigg his debut, Tony Mowbray,
likened him to another great Manchester United captain.
‘
He said, “He has that Roy Keane-esque kind of nastiness.” He has the appearance of a warrior.
He wants to win every game he plays in, including tackles and five-a-sides.
Other analysts told Mail Sport that, with his very short 5’9″ body, incredible close control,
and left foot wizardry, Rigg possesses the qualities of two blue-half of Manchester stars,
Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva.
Rigg acknowledges that he watches videos of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, and
Zinedine Zidane and that he admires Luka Modric.
He declared last month, “But I want to be Chris Rigg, not Gerrard.
” I play as a conventional midfielder. I enjoy tackling as much as I enjoy attacking and defending.
To put it another way, he has everything.
Having mainly been deployed out wide last season, Rigg has been used more centrally
as a No 8 under new boss Regis Le Bris, whose midfield also contains Jobe Bellingham,
the 19-year-old younger brother of Jude, who scored a fine winner against Derby on Tuesday.
‘He gets fans on the edge of their seats every time he gets the ball,’
former Sunderland striker Marco Gabbiadini, a long-serving pundit for
Radio Newcastle, told Mail Sport.
‘He’s very quick with his passing. He gets it out of his feet quickly and moves it.
His balance is incredible. He reminds me a little of Jack Grealish, the way he carries the ball,
sort of stuck to his toe. He is also quite tenacious. He doesn’t shirk tackles or challenges.
He has been a revelation.
It is rare to see a 17-year-old playing that many games. Other than Bellingham during his time
at Birmingham, not many players in the league have had a
breakthrough at that age and sustained it.
Rigg was signed by Sunderland at the age of five, having previously played at the Stadium of Light
when his Under 9s team entertained the crowd during a first-team game.
was born in Hebburn, South Tyneside, and comes from a family of Newcastle supporters.
Hebburn Lakes Primary School Headteacher Tony Watson had to approve
Rigg’s relocation to the club. Watson told the fanzine A Love Supreme,
“Being a fan myself, I had no hesitation when Sunderland came calling.”
‘There were other clubs interested, but I did the visits to the academy and we got him started
on a programme at Sunderland. I’m so glad I signed those documents.
I hope he ends up as Messi Mark 2.’
Rigg was still preparing for his GCSEs at Hebburn Comprehensive when he made history
Shrewsbury by becoming the youngest outfield player in Sunderland history.
He was allowed by his school to take two days off every week to train at the Academy of Light.
Later that month, in the FA Cup round at Fulham, Rigg appeared to have scored the youngest goal
in the competition and won the match for Sunderland when he scored in stoppage time,
only to have his goal disallowed for offside.
He did, however, make history at the beginning of the previous campaign when,
at the age of 16, he equalized against Crewe in the Carabao Cup, becoming the youngest scorer
in Sunderland history as well as the youngest in the competition.
The following month, in September 2023, Rigg scored a header on his league debut
against Southampton to become the Championship’s second youngest scorer,
behind only Jude Bellingham.
No wonder the England superstar’s current and former clubs, Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund,
are said to be among those interested in Rigg, as well as — whisper it —
Sunderland’s bitter rivals Newcastle.
‘You can see the path for him already,’ added Gabbiadini.
‘He will probably go to one of the German teams, play there for a year or two,
then go to one of the top teams in Europe, a bit like Bellingham.
But the other choice is that he stays here, plays every week and if we get promoted,
then what would happen?’
Rigg wearing red and white in the Premier League is the dream for Sunderland fans,
who have been starved of top-flight football for more than seven years.
The Black Cats’ executives, however, are pragmatic and see it as a victory that they have
managed to hang onto their valuable asset for this long.
Sports director Kristjaan Speakman acknowledged interest in the player after Rigg inked
a three-year contract with the team in July, highlighting “how difficult it can be to retain top talent.”
That was undoubtedly the Black Cats’ finest summertime business deal.
During last month’s Wear-Tees derby against Middlesbrough, manager Le Bris
let his guard down and praised Rigg as the new “symbol” of the team after he scored
an amazing backheel goal.
He is the very own Angel of the North for Sunderland. Followers would do well to honor him while they can.
TEENAGE KICKS IN THE SECOND TIER
MOST APPEARANCES BY PLAYERS AGED 18 AND UNDER IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP
Ryan Sessegnon — 74
Connor Wickham — 59
Jude Bellingham — 41
Gareth Bale — 41
Archie Gray — 35
Joe Mattock — 35
Will Hughes — 35
Harvey Elliott — 34
Jobe Bellingham — 31
Simon Walton — 30
CHRIS RIGG — 29
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