Sunderland youngster ruled out of Rotherham United clash

Sunderland youngster Chris Rigg will be unavailable for this weekend's game v Rotherham United due to concussion.

Rigg, 16, has been catching the eye this summer. He committed his medium-term future to the club, signing a two-year scholarship, and after a successful pre-season he netted his first professional goal in the Carabao Cup earlier in the month.

He's now training with the first-team on a regular basis whilst also playing for the club's U21 side.

But Rigg picked up a concussion in a recent game for the U21s and will be unavailable for this weekend's first-team home game v Rotherham United, as per The Northern Echo.

U21s assistant coach John Hewitson said of Rigg's injury:

“Chris came off with concussion, which was a bit of a blow. He had symptoms of concussion so, because of his age, we had to be careful.

“With the character he is – he is quite a tough nut – for him to say that he didn’t feel great, alarms go off. He’s fine, but it’s just a case of taking him off as a precaution because we need to look after him.”

Hewitson added:

“At the moment, he is training with the first team on a daily basis, and at the moment, his game time is coming with the Under-21.

“He needs to do really well for the Under-21s and make a statement that will be noticed at first-team level. People forget he has only just turned 16. He is still a young man with lots and lots of potential.”

Sunderland return to the Stadium of Light this weekend and already, it feels like a bit of a must-win game.

Tony Mowbray's side have lost all three of their opening games this season and they'll view this game against a lowly Rotherham side as a winnable one.

Kick off is at 3pm on Saturday.

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