According to The Sun’s Alan Nixon, Newcastle are ‘strong favourites’ to sign Sunderland wonderkid Chris Rigg – despite late interest from Man Utd.
The centre-midfielder is rated as one of the top talents of his age group and is in very high demand with multiple Premier League clubs vying for his signature.
At just 15, he was recently selected to be part of the first-team squad as Sunderland travelled to Blackpool in the Championship but didn’t manage to make an appearance off the bench.
Rigg – who is available for a reported £2.5m – has also captained the England Under-16s and will be expected to make a big move in the near future unless Sunderland can somehow convince him to stay.
After sending Amad Diallo to the Black Cats on loan earlier this season, Man United are hoping to have an advantage over Newcastle due to their good relationship with the Mackems, but it seems we are in pole position as things stand.
Interestingly, Nixon revealed back in April that the youngster comes from a Newcastle United supporting family, which could well sway things in our favour following interest from Old Trafford.
With Dan Ashworth intent on bringing some of the best local talents to Tyneside, let’s hope Rigg is the first of many highly-rated teenagers to join our U21 set up in 2023!
