Chelsea join Liverpool and Real Madrid in chase for 17 year old they’ve watched since 2022 | OneFootball

The transfer window may be closed, but Chelsea’s project of collecting all the best young talents in the world never sleeps.

While the focus in the last couple of years has been on South American starlets, this time something a little more prosaic is being lined up. Forget your “Kendry Paez” and your “Estevao Willian” – the latest on the list is Chris Rigg from Sunderland.

It doesn’t sound as exciting – but he looks some talent. Still just 17, he’s worked his way into the Black Cats’ lineup and is now being watched by the Blues, as well as Man City and Liverpool, according to a report in TeamTalk today. Even Real Madrid are mentioned in the piece… now that really would be a wild move.

Sunderland starlet Chris Rigg with Liverpool and Chelsea logos.

Chelsea’s next move as they continue collecting talents

Rigg already has 30 senior appearances despite only having turned 17 this summer. That’s pretty astonishing, and he’s worked his way up to a regular for the England U18 team already. That kind of record, plus the teams involved, means that this is by no means going to be a cheap pickup.

The report from TeamTalk piece claims that Sunderland would be looking for a “potentially huge fee.” The left footed central midfielder has until 2027 on his contract, so Sunderland are in a strong bargaining position, and can expect big money for their starlet if these top teams do indeed get involved.

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time he’s been mentioned – way back in 2022, our writer Simon Phillips wrote that we Chelsea were were watching Rigg as part of their “project 2030”, and he’s certainly gone from strength to strength since then.

We expect him to play the rest of this season in the Championship with Sunderland, and then a very big move to come his way…