Birmingham City transfer interest in Sunderland wonderkid dubbed "pure fantasyland" amid £10m claims | OneFootball

Birmingham City have been linked to Sunderland prodigy Chris Rigg

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Birmingham City's stunning reported transfer interest in Sunderland starlet Chris Rigg is nothing to read into, according to Football League World's Blues fan pundit.

The 17-year-old midfielder has emerged as one of the hottest properties in English football following a stunning start to the 2024/25 Championship campaign with Sunderland, having put pen to paper on his first professional contract back in the summer.

Rigg, who has already made 33 appearances for the Black Cats across all competitions, has reportedly attracted the attention of elite clubs both domestically and overseas.

According to a recent report from HITC, Manchester United, Arsenal, Newcastle United, Liverpool and Manchester City have all appeared as potential suitors from the Premier League while the likes of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona have also expressed an interest.

However, as per Alan Nixon of The Sun, Birmingham have now entered the race for Rigg's sought-after signature and are ready to pay no less than £10m in a bid to take him down to League One.

Blues have not shied away from flexing their financial muscle following the Knighthead takeover last year, although that was particularly prominent during the recent summer transfer window. Birmingham spent astounding sums for League One standards, including the blockbuster initial £15m arrival of Jay Stansfield from Fulham.

Rather unsurprisingly, they have started the new third-tier campaign in white-hot form and appear poised to complete an immediate return to the Championship, having won six of their opening seven encounters.

We quizzed our resident Blues fan pundit Mike Gibbs on whether Rigg would consider dropping to League One given the interest he has received from top clubs and if £10m would even be enough to complete a deal in any case.

"Yeah, I think these are pure fantasy land transfer rumours to be brutally honest with you," Mike explained to Football League World.

"One, I can't see £10m being near enough for him - I think it would be more than £20m - and the other one is he's got Premier League and European club chasing him, he's playing week-in, week-out in the Championship.

"I just can't see it happening.

"I'm sure there's interest there, but I think it's an absolute non-starter. I mean don't get me wrong, you'd bite the hand off for £10m but I don't think it's the right amount and I can't see him dropping down to our level given how well he's doing in the Championship.

Birmingham City need to be realistic in the transfer market

Nobody can accuse Birmingham of having a lack of ambition in the market, as they have punched considerably above their weight by divisional standards to lure various eye-catching acquisitions to St Andrews @ Knighthead Park as part of an exciting project which clearly has the objective of returning to the top-flight.

It is something to behold, and Blues fans are surely in for a treat when the January window rolls around - should the club even need any more signings, that is.

However, the club does just need to veer on the right side of realism in terms of conducting their transfer business, as they could run the risk of missing out on viable signings by pursuing ones which would be unrealistic and extremely unlikely.

Rigg is a prime example of that, and while Birmingham's interest serves as a statement of their ambitions either way, the chances of them actually pulling off such a signing feel rather remote and they would benefit from considering more realistic targets.