![\"Sunderland](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_JS384904486.jpg\")
Sunderland wonderkid Chris Rigg (centre) has played down any talk of the Black Cats targeting European football.<\/p>\nSunderland have made a brilliant start to their Premier League campaign, having won promotion via the EFL Championship play-offs last seasonSunderland wonderkid Chris Rigg (centre) has played down any talk of the Black Cats targeting European football.<\/p>\n
Sunderland wonderkid Chris Rigg has refused to get carried away with any talk about the Black Cats finishing in a European spot this season. Sunderland have made a brilliant start to life back in the Premier League – picking up 14 points from their opening eight top-flight fixtures.<\/p>\n
Regis Le Bris’s side are currently in seventh position following their 2-0 win over strugglers Wolves<\/a> at the weekend. The Wearsiders spent over \u00a3140million this summer in an attempt to stave off relegation back to the Championship.<\/p>\n It’s so far, so good for Sunderland<\/a> and Rigg, who is just 18-years-old, started his third Premier League game during the win over Vitor Pereira’s side. “I’m buzzing to be fair,” Rigg said post-match when asked about Sunderland’s start to the season.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Sunderland can stay in the Premier League – they have an advantage other teams don’t have<\/a>READ MORE: Arsenal hero Ian Wright doesn’t hold back with brutal Liverpool title race verdict<\/a><\/p>\n “It’s so good to be in a team that you know everyone’s got their backs. For example, if someone’s lost the ball, I’d know I’d work for them.<\/p>\n “And the opposite, if I lost the ball, they’d work for me. So I’m just buzzing to be a part of this team – and so proud of the team, as well.”<\/p>\n Rigg is closing in on 100 senior appearances despite his young age. He broke into the Sunderland first-team set up as 15-year-old and hasn’t looked back since.<\/p>\n He continued: “I think it’s every boy’s dream to be a Premier League<\/a> player, and not just to be a Premier League player, to be a player that’s grew up in this city, this town and what it means for the fans. So like you say on the pitch, I give it my all for the fans.<\/p>\n “And yeah, just so proud to finally call myself a Premier League player.<\/p>\n “I’ve definitely got the qualities to be a Premier League player. Obviously, I’ve still got so much more to learn – as you can see – and the team’s got so much to learn.<\/p>\n “We’re still gelling, there’s still a lot of new players that need to gel. But I think we’re on the right path.”<\/p>\n When asked if Sunderland fans could dream this season about a potential European finish, Rigg said: “I’ve been a football fan and I would dream because they’re doing so well and hopefully it can only get better. Personally, I don’t [think about European football]. I just look for the next game, because you’re only as good as your last game.<\/p>\n “At times, there was a bit of sloppiness from myself and from my team-mates today, but that digging in, grittiness and working hard together got us through the game.”<\/p>\n Join our new WhatsApp community<\/a> and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us, and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sunderland have made a brilliant start to their Premier League campaign, having won promotion via the EFL Championship…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,101,8900],"class_list":{"0":"post-522266","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-premier-league","12":"tag-sunderland-afc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115423725035202264","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}