Newcastle dealt transfer blow as young prospect they wanted this summer set to sign new deal at current club

After losing two young stars already this summer Newcastle United were hoping to add one back into the mix with an audacious swoop on a local rival.

Newcastle have long held an interest in 17-year-old Sunderland prospect Chris Rigg and rumours were that the Magpies would be in line to offer the youngster his first professional contract this summer when he became eligible.

Sunderland would have been powerless to stop the contract negotiations but would have been entitled to a fee if Rigg had opted to move to the club he grew up supporting.

Unfortunately for the Magpies, however, it looks as though they've once again lost out to the mackems for the England U17 captain as reported by Fabrizio Romano.

Chris Rigg is set to sign a three-year deal at Sunderland

Amid all the flurry of activity on Monday, we somehow completely missed this announcement by Romano who claims that Chris Rigg has agreed to stay at Sunderland and will sign a three-year deal at the Stadium of Light.

Newcastle were just one of several Premier League clubs hovering over Rigg, but the Hebburn-born lad has decided to stay put and develop at Sunderland for now.

It makes sense, the youngster should cut his teeth in lower-league football for a while before stepping up to the Premier League.

Newcastle will wait patiently for their man

A season in the Championship then probably a season in League One with the mackems with plenty of first-team performances under his belt should be enough to get hardened up to the realities of the game so that he can make the switch to the club he actually cares about in the future.

In all seriousness, this is huge for Sunderland and he is a lot more likely to get first-team football there than he would had he made a switch to the Premier League so soon, so he's actually made a really clever decision.

There's plenty of time for Newcastle to get their man if he continues to perform at the levels he is already.