U.S. national team defender Chris Richards has completed a transfer to Crystal Palace from Bayern Munich.
The 22-year-old has signed a five-year contract at Palace, becoming the fourth USMNT player to move to the Premier League this summer after Matt Turner, Tyler Adams and Brenden Aaronson.
“I grew up watching the Premier League and grew up of course watching [Wilfried] Zaha, so it’ll be cool to spend some time on the field with them [the Palace players] and be a part of this historic club. I’m really excited for it,” Richards told Palace’s official website.
“The kind of project I’ve seen [attracted me]. It’s a lot of young players but also young players who have a lot of fight. Palace is a club that seems like they’re always fighting.”
Welcome to Palace, Chris ❤️💙#CPFC
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) July 27, 2022
Richards originally joined Bayern from FC Dallas in 2018 after a successful trial. He made 10 total appearances for Bayern’s senior team but established himself as a regular at Hoffenheim over two separate loans during the past two seasons.
There was plenty of reported interest in Richards this summer as it became clear Bayern was open to a sale. Several Premier League teams and Hoffenheim were reported to be in the mix, but Patrick Vieira’s Palace has won the race for Richards.
Richards has been capped eight times by the USMNT and appears to be in the mix for a starting role at the 2022 World Cup.
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