Ben McKevitt says…
The most obvious stand out throughout the US tour was Chris Rigg, for me.
I feel like he had the biggest impact across the three games, starting each in his favoured role in central midfield. It seems like every time we see Rigg, he’s reached a new level in his development and it seems like he’s done that again this summer, building on his excellent late-season form. It seems like you can’t get near him when he receives the ball now; he’s just too switched on and technically capable. Really promising.
A clear highlight from the youth setup has been Timur Tutierov’s performances across all of pre-season, and he continued that form into the USA tour.
He bagged a really tidy goal against Liverpool and was a fantastic against Leeds where he got over sixty minutes to show what he could do up front and on the wing. Looking forward to seeing where it goes from here for Timur.
Tom Proctor is another who shone, and he has even more youth on his side as part of the new scholarly intake in 2025. He looks to have the talent to push on, so perhaps a local loan could be really beneficial this season.
Finally, I had spoken about Romaine Mundle and Simon Adingra in my Talking Points on Sunday, but they’re the two that immediately stand out to me in terms of potential outgoings.
The first thing is to consider their own careers, as I don’t see their contributions to be enough to win many minutes for the Lads this season, and they’ll be wanting to kick on.
The second point is that these lads could command reasonable fees which could boost our own ambitions this summer — especially in the case of Adingra — and that’s something we should be pursuing in my eyes. I’d also love to see the likes of Jenson Seelt, Leo Hjelde and Alan Browne get their own moves away, although none of them did themselves any disservices in their performances.
Anthony Patterson is one where you consider the fees that are being touted at around £5 million to £8 million, and think if that’s worth losing a homegrown keeper who could very ably deputise to Robin Roefs, especially in Europe.
Perhaps he wants away and perhaps the fee would be worth losing him over, but his brief cameo brought something to consider.
Ciaran McKenna says…
I think the USA tour served its purpose well for Sunderland.
Yes, it would’ve been nice to win more than one, but the results are ultimately irrelevant. It got minutes into all the players’ legs and we also managed to reintegrate the majority of the World Cup lads.
Chris Rigg, Enzo Le Fée and Nordi Mukiele were all standouts for me. This may not be a surprise, as their talent would shine against any opponent, nevermind one operating at ‘pre-season percentage’, and I’m sure they’ve benefitted from the longer break they had whilst others played in the World Cup.
I also noted that Rigg seemed bigger and stronger — something that can only be of benefit this season. Fingers crossed the possible knock Mukiele picked up against Wrexham is nothing serious, too.
This tour also provided the opportunity to see into some players’ potential futures.
For me, Leo Hjelde and Jenson Seelt moving on would be better for all involved. Romaine Mundle may also find the grass greener elsewhere, but I wouldn’t be furious if he stayed, either. There’s clearly a player there and maybe we give him another six months to prove that he can be Premier league standard.
Overall, I enjoyed the tour, especially the media regarding both the home and away kits.
It has gotten me more excited for both the pre season games to come and the season itself. Here’s hoping we can make some more additions before pre season ends, to try and get them synced up too.
Jack Howe-Gingell says…
If there was one player who upon his USA return was looking as though he’s taken another step forward, please welcome Chris Rigg.
Watching him really dominated my thoughts during pre-season — and it’s scary when you realise he’s still only nineteen years old.
Last season, the step up to the Premier League was a daunting one, but some late-season performances showed his capabilities. He showed maturity for his age and you could still see a young player finding his way, yet on this tour, he looked different.
There seemed to be an authority to his performances and rather than looking like a talented youngster trying to impact games, he looked like someone expecting to influence them. He wanted the ball, he carried it forward with purpose and looked more comfortable than I perhaps have ever seen him.
It’s easy to become desensitised to how remarkable Rigg’s development is because we’ve watched him for so long. The reality is that most players his age are still trying to break into the first team — Rigg showed flashes of someone capable of becoming a cornerstone of ours.
Beyond Rigg, the tour felt useful for a number of our young lads.
Timur Tuteriov stood out for me, and he looks like another Football League loan would be beneficial. The Lads seeing out a 1-0 over Wrexham showed they’re capable, and it was nice to see. I don’t think I spotted anyone ready to break into our Premier League picture, but definitely some promise.
Overall, I think a big thing I saw is that we are capable of playing last year’s football with confidence despite Granit Xhaka being unavailable.
He was the lynchpin for much of last season and earlier transfer rumours certainly provided a scare, but the Lads performed admirably and it settled me down.
We’ve built a way to play and one man isn’t the sum of its parts.
Owen Sara says…
It’s always about fitness at this stage of pre season and Régis Le Bris has managed the minutes of the lads very effectively, in my opinion.
Timur Tutierov and Tom Proctor look like the next two that are set to break into the first team after very promising performances, and we look like we’re going to play a lot more on the front foot next season, which is always something I’m here for.
It’s imperative that we now trim the squad, and this has to start with Leo Hjelde.
He’s clearly a character around the dressing room but he’s not at the level we need to be to compete on four fronts next season, and unfortunately I think this is also the case with Romaine Mundle.
He plays a position we’re well-stocked in and for me, those ahead of him have shown more with less minutes under their belt. I was previously torn on this but having watched the rest of the American games, I think it’s best if he moves on.
It was also nice to see us look to get bodies in and around Brian Brobbey and this looked really effective against Wrexham on Sunday. Hopefully this is setting our stall out ahead of next season.
Wadey says…
The obvious answer is Chris Rigg and I’m afraid I’m going to agree anyway.
Rigg was what might be considered to be “bit part” last season, employed on the right wing more often than not, in the middle in the latter portion. Undoubtedly for me his best position is in the middle, in my opinion, he can be Granit Xhaka’s understudy.
This doesn’t appear to be a popular opinion either among my peers on Roker Report or in the cesspit of Twitter, but I stand by it.
Rigg has such a cultured left foot, a reading of the game that few possess and a talent for defending that few attacking midfielders could dream of nor want. To me he’s becoming exactly the player I want to slot into to the berth that Xhaka has made his own, is young enough to learn the trade and undoubtedly has the talent to succeed in the role.
He showed over the course of the friendly games that he can be adaptable and is good going backwards and forwards through the midfield. I see no reason why he can’t step up to the plate in that position. Noah Sadiki fulfilled the role in the first half of the game against Wrexham and maybe it’s he that Régis Le Bris sees as a natural successor to Xhaka.
I believe that Sadiki is better employed in a more pressing role as his endless running and tenacity are perfectly suited to it. With Rigg in the six, we gain the exact thing we miss when Xhaka wasn’t in the side early in 2026 due to injury. This could happen again, as someone who played senior football until I was forty one, I can promise you he’ll need a rest at some point.
