Chris Rigg, Sunderland’s teenage star, on mimicking Jordan Henderson and acting like a schoolboy
Chris Rigg, Sunderland’s teenage star, on mimicking Jordan Henderson and acting like a schoolboy
He is smashing Sunderland’s age records and is currently being watched by Europe’s top players.
He aspires to be like Sunderland and Liverpool’s star players.
Jordan Haley
When Chris Rigg started out for Sunderland,
he would sneak into training while wearing his school uniform because he was so young.
He now aspires to win everything, just like Jordan Henderson, a product of Sunderland Academy.
The goal-scoring midfielder for Sunderland, the captain of England’s U18 team,
and a teenage prospect watched by Real Madrid, Manchester United,
and Newcastle is approaching career milestones and age records early.
So young that, following GCSE classes,
he would take the bus from Hebburn Comp to the Academy of Light to participate in first team training. “I would quickly undo my tie so that I could enter the kit before anyone noticed.”It was insane.
I was attempting to blend in! Remove the tie and try to look put together! It makes sense now that I look back.
But our players here were unbelievable with me.
At 15, I was so scared going into training, or match days.
They were so welcoming and took me in. I couldn’t have done it without them, or Tony Mowbray,” explained Rigg.
He juggled being a star in red and white one minute.
Then was back at school with year 7 kids asking for photos the next. At break times, the lads woud “only let me go in goal”, so the kick abouts stayed fair.
In January last year, at 15 and 203 days, he became Sunderland’s second youngest player in history.
In August last year, just after turning 16, he scored in the EFL Cup against Crewe and became the club’s youngest ever goalscorer and the youngest in the competition’s history.
A month later he scored his first Championship goal against Southampton, earning the accolade of youngest ever league scorer.
Now, at the age of seventeen and a half, he has made 35 appearances for Sunderland and scored five goals. He is a regular starter for the team that tops the table under new coach Regis Le Bris. In addition to winning EFL Goal of the Month for his witty, makeshift back heel that helped them defeat Boro,
he was named EFL Young Player of the Month. “Obviously, they can’t give me champagne when I win accolades since I’m too young! Instead, they give me chocolates, which is okay.
Early incentives for “walking to training with my dad because he didn’t drive—sometimes in the snow” were given out for dedication.
Rich clubs have positioned Rigg as the next great thing. He skipped the England U18s last week, and he does want to play in all the way.
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