It can’t be easy being a highly-rated, young, English footballer, as you come under intense scrutiny from the first moment you enter the public consciousness. In Chris Rigg’s case, that was aged just 15, as he became Sunderland’s youngest-ever player and the second-youngest in the history of the FA Cup.

While most of his mates would have been preparing for his GCSEs, the midfielder was making his professional debut for the club he had joined as a five-year-old. But despite playing under the beam of the spotlight for some time, at least on a local level, Rigg has not wilted and has instead gone from strength to strength – becoming a key figure in the Black Cats’ shock Championship promotion push at 17 years old.

Now, some of England and Europe’s biggest clubs are sitting up and taking notice…

Rigg has technically spent his entire career to date behind enemy lines. The teenager was born in Hebburn, a short distance east of Newcastle down the River Tyne, to a family of Magpies supporters in 2007. Those allegiances and the fierce Tyne-Wear rivalry between the two clubs didn’t stop him from joining Sunderland aged just five when he had only just started primary school, and he has been a Black Cat ever since.

There is a sense that Rigg has always been earmarked for success; he signed a boot deal with sportswear behemoth adidas in 2021 when he was still just 14 years old. In the 2021-22 season, meanwhile, he was a key figure in Sunderland’s Under-15 Premier League Floodlit Cup triumph, and his performances in that age group saw him fast-tracked.

Rigg first moved into the spotlight in January 2023 when – amid a raft of injuries – he was included in the Sunderland squad for their FA Cup third-round tie at Shrewsbury aged 15 years and 203 days. The midfielder emerged from the bench late on with his side 1-0 down, becoming the club’s youngest-ever player in the process. He would would help the Black Cats complete a dramatic, last-ditch turnaround as they scored twice in injury-time to progress.

“He was put on the pitch because he deserves to be on the pitch,” then-manager Tony Mowbray told the BBC afterwards. “He’s got a wonderful left foot. He looks like someone who is going to play with that silkiness, with the passing on his left foot, and he looks to have that tiger in him as well. He wants to tackle everyone. It’s not a bad mix for a midfielder.”

A 16-year-old Rigg was in and around the first team in 2023-24, although he had a lengthy period of being overlooked as Mowbray and subsequently Michael Beale – who lasted just 12 games in charge – were sacked. He did, however, become Sunderland’s youngest-ever goal-scorer with a strike in the Carabao Cup defeat to Crewe Alexandra, and he also netted on his league debut cameo to round off a 5-0 win over Southampton.

It was in March 2024 under caretaker Mike Dodds that Rigg eventually made his full league bow and established himself as a starter as the Black Cats battled to arrest a slide down the table, and he has been a fixture of the starting line-up since Frenchman Regis Le Bris was appointed in the summer. That appointment coincided with Rigg signing his first professional contract with the club, ending some initial speculation by putting pen to paper on a three-year deal.

Fast-forward four months and Sunderland are sitting top of the Championship, thanks in no small part to Rigg’s contributions. Having started every game since the opening day, the 17-year-old midfielder has scored crucial goals against Middlesbrough, Leeds United and Luton Town to help open up a five-point gap to second-placed Burnley.

It was his audacious finish in the Tees-Wear derby against Boro that propelled him back into the wider footballing consciousness; after pouncing on a loose ball and rounding the goalkeeper with a croqueta, Rigg produced an outrageous backheel from an acute angle to squeeze it back inside the near post, blowing the roof off the Stadium of Light.

As you might expect, Rigg has been taking strides in his international career, too. Having played for England throughout the age grades, captaining the U16s and U17s, he is now part of the U18s set-up and has worn the armband with them as well.

Biggest strengths

• Room for improvement

  It is difficult to critique a player whose career is in its infancy, even if he did make his first-team debut almost two years ago. If you were nit-picking you could point to Rigg’s passing, with his completion percentage of 79.5 in the league relatively low. Discipline could be regarded as an issue, too, with Rigg having collected four yellow cards in 12 Championship games so far this term.

  Neither of those things will be of particular concern to Sunderland, though, who will feel the midfielder is developing exactly as they had hoped. His manager hopes he can continue on this trajectory.

  “It’s the consistency,” Le Bris said. “You can perform one, two, three, four, five games, but the reality of the high level is to perform for a whole season and multiple seasons. He has many things to develop, but this attitude is very interesting.”

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  The next… Gavi?

  Rigg has been likened to Napoli’s ex-Chelsea and Brighton man Billy Gilmour in the past, while he personally admires Luka Modric, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Zinedine Zidane.

  The teenager possesses a lot of that quartet’s best traits, which arguably makes him most similar in profile to someone like Barcelona’s La Masia graduate, Gavi. Both midfielders combine tenacity with technical brilliance, control and ball-playing ability – more than happy to bite into tackles and engage in physical battles despite their diminutive frames; both of them stand at 5’7.

  The Sunderland man would surely be delighted to reach that kind of level and play for one of the world’s biggest clubs, but that should be the benchmark, such is his potential. Of course, both are also one-club men at this early stage in their respective careers, although it remains to be seen how long that stays the case for Rigg.

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    What comes next?

    Perhaps inevitably, Rigg is being linked with some of the Premier League’s big hitters as a young English player with huge potential, including Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and boyhood club Newcastle. The 17-year-old is even said to be drawing attention from abroad, too, as Real Madrid’s incessant and wide-reaching search for the next big thing supposedly stretches to the Stadium of Light. It wouldn’t be a surprise if they had an eye on Jobe Bellingham too, in fairness.

    There is a sense that Rigg will have a decision to make at some point, with his new Sunderland contract only temporarily allaying fears that he will move on as the club have reportedly slapped a £30 million ($39m) price tag on him. However, the Black Cats’ excellent season to date makes things interesting, as they find themselves right in the hunt for automatic promotion – could Rigg be tempted to stay if they go up?

    Speaking to The Chronicle in the summer about his ambitions, he said: “That’s where I want to be. I want to be at the very top.”