Chris Rigg player profile: A star at Sunderland who is attracting attention from big clubs after his consistently impressive performances

National World - LocalTV

A look at Chris Rigg and how much of an impact he is making at Sunderland with their hopeful promotion push this season. Can the youngster be the difference for the Black Cats this season?

Transcript

00:00Dan, looking at Sunderland and a specific player, Chris Rigg, now obviously when a player

00:07breaks into the side, whether it be Championship, even League One or Premier League, who is

00:1317 or younger and has come straight from the academy, there's always a bit of interest

00:17surrounding him, obviously played through England's under-15, 16, 17, 18 ranks as well.

00:25It looks certainly from a neutral perspective that he is a real gem, a real player to watch

00:30for Sunderland. How do you see his future going at the club? They are obviously a side

00:37chasing promotion back to the Premier League and that is when, if you do get promoted with

00:42these young players, the top clubs will start looking at your youngsters to maybe bring

00:47them through. He's seen Sunderland through and through. He seems like he's got a real

00:52bright future ahead. What can you tell us about him? How confident are fans that he

00:58will go a long way at the club?

01:01Well, certainly he has come through the ranks at Sunderland and he is still really young.

01:05I think that needs to be remembered with Chris Rigg, as with a lot of Sunderland players,

01:08to be honest. He is really the standout. But from watching him this season, you wouldn't

01:14know it because his performances have oozed class and maturity. He's got amongst the gold

01:20as well for such a young lad. That's what's really impressive about him, the fact that

01:26despite his age, he's playing his trade in a really competitive and tough league. Not

01:31only just playing his trade, but standing out as well. The worry for Sunderland is that

01:37if they don't go up this season, then the other teams come sniffing at him. I mean,

01:44they would do anyway, but you'd think if they went up, he'd be more inclined to stay because

01:48of course, well, he's helped get them there, he'll stay there and see if he can keep them

01:53there as well, as with a lot of players there. But if they didn't go up, that's the worry

01:57and they are hitting a bit of inconsistent form at the moment. They did win at the weekend

02:02against Stoke, but that was their first win in a good few matches. They had a lot of draws

02:07and one loss against Sheffield United as well. But Chris Rigg, yeah, he just, as I say, for

02:14a central midfielder, him and Joe Bellingham are pulling the strings. Both of them, they're

02:19still teenagers and it just shows how good they both are and also can be as well. And

02:26for Chris Rigg as well, a local lad and he knows what it means to play for a club in

02:34the North East and help get them back to where Sunderland have wanted to have been for quite

02:40a while now. It's been a long time since they went down and obviously they had their time

02:43in League One as well and it's all been very much a frustration. I mean, they've had the

02:48Netflix documentary too, but now they finally seem to have a team that is capable of getting

02:53back up there. So whether they can do that, that's the next matter. But Chris Rigg seems

02:57to be one of the players who can do it for them.

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