REGIS LE BRIS has told Sunderland fans to expect midfield changes throughout the course of the Championship season.

The Black Cats boss inherited a central-midfield unit featuring Dan Neil, Jobe Bellingham and Chris Rigg when he took over at the Stadium of Light earlier this summer, and has subsequently added Alan Browne and Salis Abdul Samed to the mix.

While Neil and Bellingham are two of the most highly-rated midfielders in the Championship, Rigg’s form in the opening month of the season has arguably elevated the 17-year-old to the top of the pecking order.

Le Bris doesn’t see it like that, preferring instead to view his midfield unit as a five-strong collective that will be a moveable feast for the remainder of the campaign.

Neil, who will be back from suspension by the time Sunderland return to action at Plymouth a week on Saturday, will get plenty of opportunities to impress, along with Samed, who joined the Black Cats from Lens in the final week of the transfer window.

And while Rigg’s early-season form has been sparkling, there will be times when the youngster has to be taken out of the starting line-up to guard against the kind of burnout that negatively affected Bellingham last season.

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“We need to be clear on the way he (Rigg) can recover after games and we want to build a midfield that can maintain the level right across the whole season,” said Le Bris, who has guided Sunderland to four wins from their opening four league matches.

“Three players is not enough. With five, we can rotate the triangle and have the possibility to play three games and then maybe in the fourth you can have a rest and be a substitute. This is definitely a possibility for us now.”

With Neil unavailable last weekend, and Samed still finding his feet following his switch from Ligue 1, Le Bris opted to play Bellingham as the deepest-lying of his three midfielders, with Browne and Rigg filling the more advanced roles.

The move was something of a surprise given Bellingham’s effectiveness as a ‘number ten’, but Le Bris has been impressed with the 18-year-old versatility and was always confident he would handle the defensive responsibilities that were placed on his shoulders at Fratton Park.

“I said before the game that the versatility of our players is very important,” he said. “Here, for example, when Jobe played as a number six, he’s played like that before and he played very well. It's a different role, maybe the way he can play as usual is different, but he did very well.”