Real Madrid and other top European clubs are being linked with the English youngster
Real Madrid celebrating their 2024 Champions League victory(Image credit: Getty Images)
European champions Real Madrid are reportedly stepping up their interest in one of English football’s best young prospects.
The Spanish giants have employed a successful policy of signing promising young players in recent years, with the likes of Brazilian forward Endrick and Turkish starlet Arda Guler both now in the first-team squad after signing for the club as teenagers.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side have also seen Jude Bellingham enjoy a successful first season at the Bernabeu following his €100million move from Borussia Dortmund last summer and could be about to pursue another young English talent.
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According to HITC, Sunderland’s 17-year-old central midfielder Chris Rigg has had both Real Madrid and Dortmund monitoring his progress over the past 12 months, while RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich are also linked.
The report adds that scouts see Rigg as ‘the best young English player since Jude Bellingham’, with Rigg set to be the next big-money Championship departure.
Rigg has been a regular for the Black Cats in their fast start to the new season, with the club topping the second tier having won all four of their Championship matches so far this season.
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Sunderland's Chris Rigg has been turning heads (Image credit: Alamy)
The youngster became Sunderland’s youngest-ever goalscorer when he scored in an EFL Cup clash last August and is under contract at the Stadium of Light until 2027 after he penned his first professional deal earlier this summer.
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, Rigg is clearly a very talented player and one that will no doubt have scouts queueing up to see him all season. But talk of a move to a European heavyweight feels premature at this stage, given the fact he only turned 17 in June. Sunderland has been a good club for young players in recent seasons and playing in a familiar environment with his minutes carefully managed is likely to be best for Rigg’s development in the short-term.
For more than a decade Joe Mewis has worked in football journalism as a reporter and editor, with stints at Mirror Football and LeedsLive among others. He is the author of four football history books that include times on Leeds United and the England national team.
