Siddharth Juyal
Manchester United are among the clubs eyeing Sunderland teenager Chris Rigg
Manchester United are scouting Sunderland teenager Chris Rigg, who is being compared with former Sunderland player Jordan Henderson. The England U17 international has seen a swift rise in his reputation despite being just 16 years old.
Rigg has already registered five appearances into his name while scoring two goals for Sunderland. The young central midfielder achieved this feat while studying for his GCSEs.
Rigg’s school allowed him a “day release”. The youngster took three days every week to train and work with the first team. Surely, he will only get even better once he focuses on football full-time.
An unnamed North East scout spoke to iNews about the player:
“You don’t want to put pressure on such a young lad but in terms of his impact, his dynamism, and his attitude it has to be Jordan Henderson. Jordan’s a Premier League winner, how many [England] caps and has been the Liverpool captain so it’s a high standard to live up to – which is why I hesitate to say that name – but this boy has the potential to match that, without a doubt. His potential is absolutely huge.”
The prodigy became Sunderland’s youngest-ever league scorer at the age of 16 years and 76 days. Jude Bellingham is the only player to get on a scoresheet in the Football League at a younger age. The Englishman is one of the best attacking midfielders in the world today and is currently playing at Real Madrid.
Newcastle United scouted Riggs and they’ve shown great interest in acquiring the services of the young talent. It remains to be seen if we will beat the Magpies to the punch.
Nevertheless, Riggs decided to stay at Sunderland as he had more chances of playing first-team football due to the club’s youth-driven philosophy. But then surely, swapping them for hated rivals Newcastle would not have been the best foot forward.
Black Cats manager Tony Mowbray said this about the youngster:
“Listen, he’s a wonderful talent and he’ll be on the bench just about every game this season, he will get game-time. The rawness of him, he doesn’t respect anybody, he tackles anybody [and] smashes into them. He dribbles and he wants to get behind the opposition line.”
Manchester United scouts will be watching the development of Rigg very closely. The teenager has all the talent in the world but he has a long road ahead.
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The youngster has made the right decision by opting for a club where he can get more first-team football to gain experience.
