London, July 28 (BUS): Crystal Palace has confirmed the signing of United States central defender Chris Richards from Bayern Munich.
Richards, 22, signed a five-year contract with the south London club, which paid Bayern a fee of about $15 million, according to the Associated Press.
The Birmingham, Alabama native is joining the Palace squad where Mark Guehy and Joachim Andersen are expected to be starters, and James Tomkins is also vying for playing time. Richards is also competing for a place on the USA World Cup roster.
“I’m really excited about it,” Richards said of the move to Palace. “The kind of project I saw (attracted me). There are a lot of young players but also young players have a lot of fighting. Al Qasr is a club that always seems to fight.”
Richards arrived at Bayern Munich from the MLS team’s Dallas academy four years ago. He made his Bundesliga debut in June 2020 against Freiburg, played three league matches and three Champions League matches that fall, then was loaned to Hoffenheim for the second half of the season and made 10 Bundesliga and two Europa League matches.
After a brief appearance in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich at the start of last season, he was loaned to Hoffenheim. He scored one goal in 19 Bundesliga matches against Freiburg on December 11.
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Richards injured his right ankle during the World Cup qualifiers in Canada on January 30 and returned with Hoffenheim on April 2. He then sustained a right thigh injury at the end of the season against Grather Fürth on April 17.
The defender made his US debut at an exhibition against Panama in November 2020 and has eight caps. He appeared in five of 14 World Cup qualifiers, four of them starting.
“Chris is a very talented young player, with plenty of experience at a high level for his age, as well as an established international for the USA national team,” said Palace president Steve Parish. “The competition can only be paid by him and our team.”