Regis Le Bris has made a number of bold decisions at the start of his Sunderland career.
The Frenchman arrived into a club that had spent the first half of the year gradually crumbling, with plenty of pressure on him to rebuild.
Le Bris also had his own reputation to rebuild, having suffered relegation with Lorient last season. However, the pressure didn’t seem to phase him.
The Sunderland head coach brought Alan Browne straight into the line-up, while he entrusted Eliezer Mayenda to start up front in back-to-back games.
The Spaniard went onto score a brace against Sheffield Wednesday and proved exactly why you should stick with one manager – something Michael Beale and Mike Dodds didn’t do.
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Chris Rigg is proving that central midfield is his best position
Le Bris is clearly also getting the best out of Chris Rigg too, as despite his place on the bench last weekend, he has since really impressed.
The 17-year-old enjoyed his breakthrough last season, but was mainly played out wide as Dodds didn’t believe he was ready to play centrally.
Le Bris went onto explain that the wing was ‘not his best position’ and that playing as a midfielder or a number ten is ‘good’ for him and the team.
It only took Rigg 148 minutes to prove the 48-year-old correct, putting on two stellar performances in the middle of the park.
The youngster played a little deeper against Preston North End, but was comfortably Sunderland’s best player, while he was pushed a little further forward in the Owls demolition.
Rigg had 40 touches, completed 88% of his passes, made three key passes, had three shots and made one tackle against Sheffield Wednesday, while he made 45 touches, 91% passing accuracy, 100% successful dribbles and four tackles against Preston.
‘Outrageous’ Rigg is Sunderland’s most exciting talent in years
The teenager was hailed as an ‘outrageous talent’, with potential ‘absolutely off the scale’ at the weekend.
There is no denying that Le Bris was bang on about Rigg starring in midfield, because in the two starts he has had, he is playing with such maturity and would already get into Premier League starting line-ups.
It is so hard to believe that he isn’t even an adult until next summer and may have already racked up around 80 senior appearances by the time he reaches his 18th birthday.
Rigg certainly seems to be thriving off the competition given to him by Browne, and while his teammate really impressed on his debut, it is impossible to offer the team what Rigg does.
He is absolutely sensational and is comfortably the most exciting player that has stepped through those doors at the Academy of Light in a very very long time.
What makes it even more exciting is that it seems like Le Bris knows exactly what to do with him.
He was brought into help develop these young players and we are already seeing the positive effects of his presence on our most exciting talent.