Sunderland star Chris Rigg is a man in demand right now, with Manchester United looking very interested ahead of January.
Chris Rigg has been a shining light for Sunderland under Regis Le Bris this season, having already featured 14 times in the Championship, with three goals to his name.
The 17-year-old Black Cats academy graduate has quickly garnered transfer interested ahead of January, with Manchester United the favourites to sign Rigg at Sunderland.
Elsewhere, Real Madrid are also interested in Rigg, who’s had links to several other top clubs around Europe, as well as the likes of Wolves and Birmingham City in League One.
But a top flight move seems nailed on for Rigg should he decide to leave the Stadium of Light anytime soon.
Sunderland AFC News sources previously revealed that Rigg wants the Sunderland owners to be well compensated for his eventual sale, but that he leaves in 2025 regardless of how this season pans out.
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Danny Mills tips Chris Rigg to stay at Sunderland amid Man United interest, with a catch
Speaking on talkSPORT’s Championship preview, pundit and former player Danny Mills gave his verdict on Rigg’s future at Sunderland.
Presenter Hugh Woozencroft said he’d be ‘stunned’ if Rigg stayed with Sunderland beyond this season, to which Mills replied: “I wouldn’t.”
Mills continued: “They maybe should [big teams go in for Rigg]. But I think as a young player now, you’ve got to be very, very careful, not to go too soon.
“He’s young. He’s having a great spell at the moment. But that can change very, very quickly.”
Mills concluded: “He’s not going to go to a Premier League club and play every week. I would say, ‘OK, but I want to stay on loan for the season’… Surely that has to work for both clubs?”
The complications with selling a player, and loaning them straight back
It’s a tactic that we don’t often see so much nowadays, but may have been more popular a few years ago.
For Sunderland, selling Rigg next summer and then keeping him on loan could be fruitful. But for the buying club, there might be more complications.
Say for example, Manchester United sign Rigg. They’d surely want him playing and training around Premier League players, at a Premier League tempo, so that he can more quickly become a Premier League-level player, whereas the Championship is only going to give Rigg so much.
There might need to be that season or two of playing less regularly so that Rigg can get to grips with the Premier League, and so a permanent purchase with a view to loaning him back to Sunderland doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense for the buying club.
Then for Sunderland, they’d no doubt bring in someone else should Rigg leave, and they’ll want their own player to get game time and so Rigg might not have the same game time guarantee as he has now, no matter how good he is.