21 Under 21: Chris Rigg (Sunderland)

Episode #21 | George Elek and Ali Maxwell list the most outstanding young players in the EFL.

21 Under 21 will be released every weekday at noon in June, with paid subscribers unlocking early access to all video content.

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“I truly believe that this is a remarkable talent, who I can see playing at a very high level” — Ali Maxwell

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Chris Rigg

Sunderland — Championship, 2023/24:

• Born: 18 June 2007

• Position: Attacking Midfielder / Winger

• League appearances: 21

• League starts: 8

⬆️ Youngest player… highest ceiling?

Fittingly, we end our month of 21 Under 21 excitement by looking to the future.

Sunderland signed 10 first-team players aged 21 or under last season, yet two of their most exciting young talents are homegrown academy products. Dan Neil is a 21U21 alumnus (2022) but a veritable old codger at 22, and three weeks too old to qualify for this year’s list; Chris Rigg, however, will still be eligible when we’ve all turned to dust.

Rigg – the headline act of our hastily-abandoned 16 Under 16 series, before turning 17 last week – set numerous youngest-goalscorer records in 2023/24 but he makes the cut here entirely on merit, not novelty. Showing intelligence and versatility as well as great technical quality, he has looked completely at home in the Championship.

And, of course, he still has so much time to improve further. This could theoretically be the first of six appearances in 21 Under 21, if it wasn’t for our certainty that he’ll leave the Football League behind before too long.

📈 At a glance

Pizza charts informed by match data. Each chart rates a chosen player from 0-99 across different metrics (e.g. Dribbles) according to their “percentile rank”. A 75 score shows a player outperforming 75% of other players in the dataset. Each dataset is position-specific. Negative metrics are reversed. [Credit: Riley Roberts.]

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▶️ Watch: Episode 21