Tottenham Hotspur chief Fabio Paratici attempted to improve Antonio Conte‘s squad in January by swooping to sign Pedro Porro and Arnaut Danjuma on loan from Sporting and Villarreal respectively.
Whilst investing in established first-team players is one way of going about developing the squad, the club should also be looking to add to their academy ranks by snapping up prospects from other youth setups.
With this in mind, Spurs could land themselves a future star in the summer transfer window by securing a deal to sign Sunderland midfielder Chris Rigg.
Who is Chris Rigg?
Tottenham are reportedly among a number of Premier League clubs, including Manchester City, Chelsea, and Liverpool, who are interested in signing the 15-year-old.
Conte could find the eventual heir to Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg‘s position in the team by securing a deal to sign the teenager ahead of their top-flight rivals.
The Denmark international will turn 28 in the summer, and bringing in a 15-year-old to learn from the experienced former Bayern Munich battler before taking over from him could be a shrewd move by Spurs.
Rigg has shown immense potential in his incredibly short career to date, having already been handed three first-team appearances by Sunderland this season.
Black Cats manager Tony Mowbray is seemingly a huge fan of the teenager and heaped praise on him last month, saying: “I watched him train today with the first team and do the game-prep, and I have to say he is really impressive.
“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.
“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.”
Should Tottenham sign Chris Rigg?
Yes
No
The maestro, who has set up four goals in 14 U18 matches for Sunderland, has captained England at U16 level. This suggests that the gem is a leader on the pitch, much like Hojbjerg, who was once dubbed Jose Mourinho’s ‘captain without the armband’.
Therefore, Rigg could be the long-term successor to the current Spurs warrior; and given the youngster’s emergence at first-team level this season, he seems a player worth taking a risk on in the summer.
