Regis Le Bris should be commended for the job he’s doing at Sunderland currently, especially when you consider how young the group of players he has at his disposal are.
The promotion-chasing Black Cats boasted the youngest average lineup for the Championship this season against Burnley in the middle of August, with the average age of Le Bris’ troops coming in at just 22.7, as the Frenchman tries to show to the second tier that you can succeed in such a testing division playing kids.
It is undoubtedly working so far, as the likes of Chris Rigg further prove that age is just a number, with the 17-year-old ace one of many star performers at the Black Cats who are on cloud nine at the moment.
Top performers for Sunderland this season
Rigg, despite still being very much in his teenage years, is now onto 39 first-team appearances overall for his boyhood employers, with a large portion of those coming this season in the Championship.
He isn’t just being picked for the sake of it either, with the Black Cats number 11 helping himself to three goals from 14 appearances as a mainstay of Le Bris’ lineups.
Away from Rigg, there are other members of the Frenchman’s side who are equally excelling despite still being at an age where a division such as the Championship could be daunting, with 19-year-old Jobe Bellingham shining in glimpses after picking up seven goals last season.
Wilson Isidor has also been a revelation in attack, after joining as a relative unknown entity from Zenit St. Petersburg on loan this summer, with goals coming against the likes of Oxford United and Hull City to help his team stay near the summit of the league.
The Sunderland boss will just hope his young and inexperienced group don’t suffer from a crisis in confidence down the line that jeopardises their promotion chances, with the Frenchman not saying no to more experience being added to this camp if this former Black Cats man was being lined up for a dramatic return.
The former Sunderland star who’s now shining
Alex Pritchard’s time at the Stadium of Light might well have ended up fizzling out, with Birmingham City allowed to pick up him for just £100k this February, but he wasn’t a complete failure during his entire stay on Wearside.
The diminutive attacking midfielder would amass four goals and seven assists during the 2022/23 season for his ex-employers to steer them on their way to finally achieving promotion up to the second tier, whilst also chipping in with five assists last campaign, before then pushing through a move to Birmingham.
Whilst his time at St. Andrew’s didn’t go according to plan, as Pritchard’s reunion with his former Sunderland boss in Tony Mowbray was short-lived with only one assist registered from nine appearances, the “outstanding” 31-year-old – as he was described by football journalist Josh Bunting during the peak of his Black Cats powers – has found a new lease of life all the way out in Turkey.
Sivasspor will feel they’ve won themselves a gem already, with the Super Lig outfit benefitting from a mass Blues clear-out after relegation, to win themselves a classy operator in the middle of the park.
Pritchard’s league numbers for Sivasspor | |
|---|---|
Stat – per 90 mins* | Pritchard |
Games played | 8 |
Goals scored | 0 |
Assists | 3 |
Touches* | 35.9 |
Key passes* | 1.5 |
Accurate passes* | 17.6 |
Stats by Sofascore | |
Pritchard has managed to already notch up three assists playing for his new side from just eight league contests, with the 31-year-old even accumulating a mightily impressive five key passes in just one match versus Gaziantep in September.
He has been missing from action owing to an injury in recent games, but there must be some thoughts going around in Le Bris’ head over whether Pritchard’s presence could help his raw group in the here and now, over the 5 foot 7 ace plying his trade in Turkey.
Related
Sunderland had the original Chris Rigg but he ended up leaving for £0
Sunderland let their original version of Chris Rigg depart the Stadium of Light for nothing.
