Fast forward a decade and Rigg has earned the respect of the Switzerland international after Sunderland stunned everyone to complete the signing of Xhaka in the summer.
Rigg and Xhaka are two players at the opposite ends of their careers, and while the former Arsenal captain has been Sunderland's most influential player on the pitch this season, his teenage teammate has maybe not played as much football as he'd have liked.
Prior to the recent games against Brighton and Newcastle - where he impressed in both - Rigg had made just six Premier League starts this season.
But the teenage star has a big fan in Sunderland's skipper.
"When a player like Granit wants to play with you it's a good sign of maturity," said head coach Regis Le Bris.
"You need to earn the credit on the pitch. It's not about speaking, it's on the pitch.
"Riggy came from this period when he struggled and he wasn't so composed on the ball, so when you give the ball to a teammate and they turn the ball over quickly, sometimes you won't receive a pass for 30 minutes because you feel intuitively that you won't give the ball to this teammates.
"Now it's totally the opposite and he built this during the training sessions with his attitude and resilience and character.
"It just shows players need time and it's a really good example of our identity."
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Le Bris has spoken previously about how impressed he was with the reaction from Rigg after the youngster had to be replaced early in on the September draw with Aston Villa after Reinildo's sending off.
Between the start of November and end of February, the 18-year-old featured in just four of Sunderland's 19 Premier League games. But he took his chance in from the off against Brighton, when he thought he'd scored his first Premier League goal only for it to be chalked off, and he kept his place in the side for Sunday's Tyne-Wear derby and delivered his best performance of the season so far.
Meanwhile, a couple of Sunderland players are just one game away from reaching this summer's World Cup.
After receiving his first senior call-up, Melker Ellborg was an unused substitute as Sweden booked their place in the play-off final thanks to a 3-1 victory over Ukraine. They now face Poland in the qualifying decider next Tuesday.
Noah Sadiki will also be in action on Tuesday when DR Congo face Jamaica in a final qualifying tie.
Sunderland's internationals will return to the Academy of Light at the end of next week, but then still have a full week and more of preparation before Premier League action returns with the visit of struggling Tottenham on Sunday, April 12.
Spurs must decide before then whether to stick with Igor Tudor or roll the dice with another managerial change.