RĂ©gis Le Bris handed quintuple injury boost ahead of Plymouth Argyle vs Sunderland in Championship as they prepare…
The latest on the fitness of Sunderland’s international stars ahead of Plymouth Argyle this weekend…
Sunderland prodigy Chris Rigg has emerged from the international break injury-free, The Echo has learned.
England under-18s ended their trip to France with a 1-1 draw against the host nation on Sunday evening, before winning a penalty shootout to seal second place at the Lafarge Tournament.
Rigg came on in the second half during the game after seeing his minutes carefully managed owing to his prominence for Sunderland during the early part of the Championship season. The 17-year-old has featured in all of the Black Cats games this season so far.
Rigg caught the eye during France with a cheeky nutmeg and pass to play on Stoke City midfielder Souleymane Sidibe, who then set up Trey Nyoni for England’s opener. The Young Lions came into their final game in Limoges on the back of draws with eventual winners Portugal and Switzerland, with Rigg featuring in both games.
Rigg is now set to return to Sunderland ahead of the game against Plymouth Argyle on Saturday at Home Park and is in contention to start for RĂ©gis Le Bris alongside teammates Dan Ballard and Trai Hume, who both featured for Northern Ireland during the international break.
The defensive duo started the Nations League loss against Bulgaria with Hume being replaced towards the end of the match. However, this was not thought to be injury-related. Sunderland’s deadline day signing Chris Mepham played a full 90 minutes for Wales against Montenegro in a 2-1 win, suggesting he is now fully in contention ahead of Plymouth Argyle.
Another of Sunderland’s deadline-day signings, Milan Aleksic, was also on international duty with Serbia last week. However, the 19-year-old midfielder’s wait for his senior national team debut goes on after he was named on the bench against Spain and Denmark but did not come on for either clash. Though his inclusion suggests he has not picked up any sort of injury and could well be available to Le Bris during the upcoming weeks.
Though the signs regarding Rigg, Ballard, Hume, Mepham and Aleksic’s fitness are good initially, all will turn to Le Bris’ pre-Plymouth press conference later this week with the head coach expected to provide a full injury update.
Now, we are not saying the Barcelona legend does not have an eye for talent – it can be difficult to predict how any young player’s career will go – but it’s fair to say none of those put forward by Lionel Messi back in 2016 have come anywhere close to joining the Argentina captain amongst football’s elite.
