Sunderland teenager is delivering on his sensation standing and there are hopes he could be ‘Messi Mark II’-  however the battle to maintain maintain of 17-year-old is on as Europe’s high golf equipment circle

Chris Rigg had performed lower than quarter-hour of senior soccer when the primary resounding verdict got here in from Sunderland’s membership captain.

Introduced off the bench with the Black Cats trailing in opposition to League One Shrewsbury within the FA Cup in January 2023, the 15-year-old schoolboy helped encourage his aspect to a dramatic 2-1 victory. 

Then, moments after the ultimate whistle, Luke O’Nien – who had simply scored the 94th-minute winner – turned to the digicam on the pitch, pointed to debutant Rigg and declared: ‘What a participant’.

It’s a three-word comment now being repeated by everybody who sees the teenage sensation in motion for the primary time.

Rigg solely turned 17 in the summertime however he’s already the linchpin of a resurgent Sunderland aspect sitting high of the Championship forward of Friday night time’s go to of promotion rivals Leeds.

He’s thought-about the very best outfield participant to come back via the Academy of Mild since fellow central midfielder Jordan Henderson, who went on to guide Liverpool to Premier League and Champions League glory and captain his nation. 

Now Rigg is being tipped to go on to scale related – and even better – heights, with a number of the greatest golf equipment in Europe monitoring him.

And to assume he’s solely simply studying to drive (he has failed his concept take a look at twice) and was awarded sweets moderately than champagne following his man-of-the-match show in opposition to Middlesbrough final month as a result of he’s too younger to drink.

‘He’s miles past his age,’ mentioned Chris Mepham, Sunderland’s on-loan Welsh worldwide defender. ‘He carries himself like he’s been round for years. He’ll have a tremendous profession.’

Dan Neil, Rigg’s midfield companion, added: ‘His ceiling is no matter he desires it to be. From the minute he first educated with us, everybody’s eyebrows lifted and have been like, “We have a participant on our palms right here”.’

Rigg captains England Beneath-18s, having additionally led them at U16 and U17 degree, with one scout likening him to Captain Marvel himself, Bryan Robson, given his management qualities, bravery and engine.

Tony Mowbray, the Sunderland boss who gave Rigg his debut, in contrast him to a different legendary Manchester United skipper. ‘He has that Roy Keane-esque sort of nastiness,’ mentioned Mowbray. ‘He’s this warrior-like character. He desires to win each sort out, each five-a-side, each contest he is in.’

Different observers within the North-East have advised Mail Sport that Rigg has traits of two present stars from the blue half of Manchester, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva, given his comparatively slight 5ft 9in body, chic shut management and wand of a left foot.

Rigg himself admits to admiring Luka Modric and watching clips of Zinedine Zidane, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard. ‘However I don’t need to be Steven Gerrard, I need to be Chris Rigg,’ he emphatically introduced final month. 

‘I’m only a conventional midfielder. I like to assault, I like to defend, I like a sort out as effectively. Type of a box-to-box midfielder.’ In different phrases, the boy has bought the lot.

Having primarily been deployed out broad final season, Rigg has been used extra centrally as a No8 this time period beneath new boss Regis Le Bris, whose midfield additionally accommodates Jobe Bellingham – the 19-year-old youthful brother of Jude who scored a surprising winner in opposition to Derby on Tuesday.

‘He’s a type of gamers that will get the followers on the sting of their seat each time he will get it,’ former Sunderland striker Marco Gabbiadini, a long-serving pundit for BBC Radio Newcastle, advised Mail Sport.

‘He’s very fast along with his passing. He will get it out of his ft shortly and strikes it. His steadiness is unimaginable. He jogs my memory a little bit little bit of Jack Grealish, the way in which he carries the ball, type of caught to his toe.

‘He’s additionally fairly tenacious. He does not shirk out of tackles or challenges. That has been one of many options of his recreation.

‘He has been a revelation. It’s not fairly often you get a lad of 17 taking part in so many matches. There aren’t many gamers who’ve made a breakthrough at that age within the league and carried it via, apart from Bellingham when he was at Birmingham.’

Born in Hebburn, South Tyneside, Rigg hails from a Newcastle-supporting household however has been on Sunderland’s books because the age of 5, first taking part in on the Stadium of Mild when his Beneath-9 workforce entertained the gang at half time of a first-team match.

‘When Sunderland got here calling, I had no hesitation, being a fan myself,’ Tony Watson, the headteacher of Rigg’s old style Hebburn Lakes who needed to authorise his transfer, advised fanzine A Love Supreme. ‘There have been different golf equipment , however I did the visits to the academy and we bought him began on a programme at Sunderland. I’m so glad I signed these paperwork. I hope he finally ends up as Messi Mark 2.’

When Rigg grew to become the youngest outfield participant in Sunderland’s historical past at Shrewsbury, he was nonetheless learning for his GCSEs at Hebburn Complete. His secondary faculty let him miss two days every week to coach on the Academy of Mild.

Within the subsequent spherical of the FA Cup at Fulham later in January 2023, Rigg seemed to have develop into the competitors’s youngest scorer and received the tie for Sunderland when he netted in damage time, just for his strike to be dominated out for offside. Nonetheless, he was to not be denied historical past firstly of final season, when he equalised in opposition to Crewe within the Carabao Cup, changing into Sunderland’s youngest scorer and the competitors’s youngest on the age of 16.

The next month, in September 2023, Rigg scored a header on his league debut in opposition to Southampton to develop into the Championship’s second youngest scorer – behind solely a sure Jude Bellingham. No marvel the England celebrity’s present and former golf equipment, Actual Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, are mentioned to be amongst these all in favour of Rigg, in addition to – whisper it quietly – Sunderland’s noisy neighbours Newcastle.

‘You possibly can type of see the trail for him already,’ added Gabbiadini. ‘He’ll most likely go to one of many German groups, play there for a 12 months or two, then go to one of many high groups in Europe, a bit like Bellingham. However the different alternative is that he stays right here, performs each week and if we bought promoted, then what would occur?’

Rigg sporting purple and white within the Premier League is the dream situation for Sunderland followers, who’ve been starved of top-flight soccer for greater than seven years. However Black Cats chiefs are practical and contemplate it a coup that they’ve even stored maintain of their prized asset for this lengthy.

After Rigg signed his first skilled contract – a three-year-deal – with the membership in July, sporting director Kristjaan Speakman confirmed there had been curiosity in his participant and spoke of ‘how troublesome it may be to retain high expertise’. Actually, that contract was the Black Cats’ greatest little bit of enterprise of the summer time.

When Rigg netted his audacious backheel winner within the Put on-Tees derby in opposition to Boro final month, boss Le Bris let his guard down and hailed him as the brand new ‘image’ of the membership.

Chris Rigg: Sunderland’s very personal Angel of the North. Supporters higher worship him whereas they’ll.