'Special bond' - Jobe Bellingham heaps praise on Sunderland teammate as pair share prestigious award

Sunderland midfielder Jobe Bellingham has heaped praise on teammate Chris Rigg after the pair were both handed the Young Player of the Year accolade at the North East Football Writers' Association Awards.

The teenage duo have shone for the Black Cats in recent months, and have established themselves as mainstays of Regis Le Bris’ starting XI since the Frenchman arrived at the Stadium of Light over the summer.

And in recognition of their rapid development, the Sunderland starlets were jointly-voted winners of this year’s prestigious local award. In an interview addressing his success, Bellingham said: “It feels really good. I'm really honoured to have won the award. There's a lot of top players who have won it in the past. It's an award that gets a lot of recognition up here, so yeah, I'm really pleased.”

On Sunderland star Chris Rigg

When asked about how pleased he was to be sharing the award with Sunderland teammate Rigg, he added: “I think first and foremost Riggy really deserves it and I'm delighted that we can share it because I think it's really special. Both of our names will be attached to that forever because I love playing with him. We've got a really special bond on and off the pitch, we're really good mates.

“I think for the club it shows how they've improved and are amazing at nurturing young players. It's part of the make-up of the club now and the fans are completely behind it. They get our full support and we get their full support on a matchday, so it's a really good relationship and the club feels like a really good place to be at the minute.

“It's a testament to everyone at the club really, from top to bottom, that two players can win this award. It shows that we're willing to nurture players and then get the best out of them, which we've done not just with me and Riggy but with many players as you've seen in the squad and down the years recently. I think it will show maybe other players that the club are interested in that this is a really good place to be for young players and it helps you develop, helps you play for a massive club which you get massive experiences from, and then it helps you grow and also compete.

“I knew about Riggy before, to be fair, but he's the player I've been most impressed with since I've come to the club, probably him and the likes of Dan Neil. I think playing next to players like him, Dan, as I've mentioned, I've seen how good they are and how hard they work as well, which I must mention about Riggy. Every day he trains like he wants to get better, with a great ambition and a great desire. So that's the best thing for me really. The talent kind of comes secondary, which he definitely has, but him as a person, he's always going to keep improving because of that hunger that he's got, which for me is like, they're the players you want to be playing with. So Riggy fully deserves the award, as I've said, and he's just got to keep going because he's on to big things.”

On the reason for his Sunderland success

When asked about the key to his impressive personal development in recent times, Bellingham added: “Probably a share of failure, being given the chance by coaches and managers that, thankfully, I've got here and when I was younger at Birmingham. I think, like I said, a lot of failure, exposure to experiences, which comes when you get some success and sometimes you don't, but you learn and it's important that you do learn and that you do review these experiences because it's great learning and it really helps you develop.

“I think because of the way that I am, I've used it to kind of boost myself and try and keep going and get better and better. That's where I think I've done quite well in improving, from last season and from the season before that and hopefully next season as well, I'll be able to keep improving. I think that's the most important thing because you can have talent, you can have that, like I've said, but it's about, can you go again and can you keep going and getting better and better? That's something that I pride myself on and something that I want to keep doing.”

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On Sunderland ending the season on a high note

When asked whether Sunderland can kick on and end their bid for promotion to the Premier League on a strong note, Bellingham continued: “There's things we can learn just around the training ground and on matchdays as well. There's little things that we can tweak and I'm sure we will because, like I say, we've got a great group of lads here who want to get better.

“Players like Riggy, like I've mentioned, and we're desperate to get this club back to where it needs to be. Every player here, I think Dan mentioned it the other week, every player here loves playing for this club - that's the truth and as they should, because it's a privilege. I'm really confident that we're going to iron things out and we're going to finish really strong.”

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