It says a lot about the make-up of Sunderland’s squad that a 22-year-old Dan Neil can be considered something of an elder statesman in Regis Le Bris’ roster.
The Black Cats skipper was only six years old when Roy Keane guided Sunderland to the Championship title. He had only just started secondary school when Fabio Borino put Gus Poyet’s side ahead against Manchester City in the EFL Cup final at Wembley.
But with over 160 first-team appearances under his belt and the captain’s armband around his bicep, Dan Neil is a relative veteran in a Sunderland side constructed upon the foundations of youth and precocious potential.
Neil is three years older than his midfield partner Jobe Bellingham. He is half-a-decade Chris Rigg’s senior.
But the most experienced member of Le Bris’ baby-faced trio is delighted to share midfield duties with two players who continue to defy the notion that promotion campaigns are build upon a platform of proven, been-there-and-done-it Championship nous.
Dan Neil hails Sunderland team-mates Chris Rigg and Jobe Bellingham
“Jobe and Riggy are still pretty new on the scene,” Neil tells reporters in midweek. “[But] they have been absolutely brilliant. They’ve played so many minutes already this year and it’s nice to have them in front of me.
“I’m getting old now. I need the legs in front of me!”
After moonlighting as a centre-forward throughout much of last term, 19-year-old Bellingham contiunes to blossom in his favoured box-crashing midfield role under Le Bris.
He scored his second goal of the Championship season with a towering header as Sunderland swept aside Des Buckingham’s Oxford United 2-0 on Saturday afternoon.
Rigg, meanwhile, continues to justify those links with Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund. The 17-year-old is arguably the most coveted Championship protege since Jobe’s now Madrid-based sibling was running the show for Birmingham City.
Neil backs Black Cats youngsters to continue flying Championship start
“They’ve both been absolutely excellent,” adds Neil, who by his own admission lives only ‘two minutes’ from Rigg on Wearside.
“But I think they’ve got really mature heads on their shoulders and they know that there’s [been] only 11, 12 games, whatever it is.
“They want to do it for a full season. We want to be up there by the end of the season and that takes everybody. They’ve got really mature heads on their shoulders and they’re not going to stop.
“And it’s nice to play in midfield with such a developing talent, and just see [Rigg] each week getting better and better and better. He gets frustrated when he gets taken off sometimes.
“You always have to remind him; ‘You’re 17 and you need to rest your legs!'”
Regis Le Bris trialled Neil in a deeper role during Sunderland’s win at Luton Town a week ago.
But, while the Sunderland of Light graduate could yet evolve into a top-class deep-lying playmaker, the assist he produced to set up Wilson Isidor’s latest strike at home to Oxford provided a reminder of Neil’s talents in the final third.
Neil now has assists in three successive Championship games.
The Zenit St Petersburg loanee, meanwhile, has four goals in six starts. Isidor rattled a ‘wonderful’ finish into the Oxford net to cap off a trademark Neil pass and maintain his recent assist-a-game average.