Jobe Bellingham and Chris Rigg picked up awards at the North East Football Writer’s awards recently, highlighting the pair’s promising 2024/25 seasons with Sunderland.
Jobe Bellingham and Chris Rigg were named joint best young men’s player following their impressive performances in the Sunderland midfield this season.
The pair have made 31 appearances each in the Championship this season and both have played a crucial role in what’s so far been a sublime season for the Black Cats under Regis Le Bris.
As things stand, Sunderland sit in 4th place of the Championship table following their impressive 2-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday last time out, with a game against strugglers Cardiff City at the Stadium of Light this weekend.
Sunderland beat Cardiff City on the opening day of the season and so Saturday’s game will be a good time to reflect on how much progress has been made this season, both as a team and as individuals.
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Jobe Bellingham lauds Chris Rigg and Dan Neil at Sunderland
Bellingham and Rigg are certainly among the players who made huge strides in their progress this season. Both players have been linked with Manchester United and even Real Madrid, and Bellingham has since shared his admiration for the 17-year-old Rigg.
Speaking to Total Sport after accepting his recent award, Bellingham named the player he’s been most impressed with since joining Sunderland in the summer of 2023.
The 19-year-old explained: “I knew about Riggy before [signing for Sunderland] to be fair, but he’s the player I’ve been most impressed with since I’ve come to the club. Probably him and the likes of Dan Neil.
“I think playing next to players like him and Dan as I’ve mentioned, I’ve seen how good they are and how hard they work as well, which I must mention about Riggy; every day he trains like he wants to get better and with a great ambition and a great desire.”
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Sensational price tag claim made about Chris Rigg and Jobe Bellingham
Whether or not Sunderland go up this season, it looks likely that both Rigg and Bellingham will come into the transfer spotlight once again, with big moves potentially on the horizon for either player.
And speaking recently, pundit Lee Hendrie claimed Rigg and Bellingham are worth a combined £80million, but suggested that both players would need to be Premier League players for Sunderland to receive that amount.
He said: “I’m sure that Sunderland will be wanting around that £40 million mark for each of them. It’s just, would they get that at this current time? That’s the big question.”
Right now, the focus from everyone at Sunderland will be on Cardiff and on finishing the season strong, and hopefully earning promotion to the Premier League after an eight-year hiatus for the Black Cats.