Tony Mowbray is considering handing 15-year-old Chris Rigg his first-team debut in Sunderland's weekend FA Cup third round trip to Shrewsbury Town. The highly-rated teenage midfielder has been on the fringes of the first team this season, travelling with the Black Cats to Birmingham in November although he did not make the bench that day, and he was an unused substitute in Sunday's visit to Blackpool.
Rigg trained with the first-team today and will again be part of the squad this weekend and, depending on the situation in the game, Mowbray may use the cup game as an opportunity to give the youngster a taste of senior action. "He's coming with us. I watched him train today with the first team and do the game-prep, and I have to say he is really impressive," said Mowbray.
"He's not a big, strong, physical, guy - he's quite slight - but he has a wonderful left foot and he is an incredibly competitive animal. I've seen him for 20-30 minutes in an U21 game against Southampton, and his potential looks enormous to me.
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"He looks like a footballer who can play with the silkiness with his left foot, and play lovely passes, but he also looks like a tiger in that he wants to tackle everyone, and that's not a bad mix for a midfielder. For a boy of 15, I don't want to overly build him up other than to say he looked in training today like he warrants being around our squad."
A lengthy injury list has restricted Mowbray's ability to make changes for the cup game, and Rigg is expected to be one of two or three young players making the journey - not least because in this competition clubs can name up to nine substitutes.
Asked about the chances of Rigg being given an outing at some stage, Mowbray added: "The first priority is to go there, perform well, and win the football match. And if the opportunity comes to blood a young player in an environment where you feel comfortable, then we will take opportunites to do that. But the first thing - for the people who pay their money and jump in their cars and minibuses and travel for five or six hours each way and get home late - we have to go and win the match.
"There is a balance, though. When do you ever give youngsters an opportunity? But also we have a responsibility to go there and win. Obviously, you can never guarantee you will win but what the fans want is to see a team that is fully committed and tries to win."
Had Rigg made his debut against Birmingham on November 11, he would have become the youngest player ever to play for Sunderland in a competitive first-team game, beating by 39 days the record set by goalkeeper Derek Forster in August 1964, who was aged 15 years and 185 days when he made his debut against Leicester City at Roker Park. If he features against Shrewsbury, he would now rank behind Forster and become Sunderland's second-youngest player.
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