Chris Richards found it tough for consistent playing time while at Bayern Munich, but the American defender will now have a new opportunity to become a first-team regular in England.
English Premier League side Crystal Palace acquired Richards on a permanent deal on Wednesday, signing him to a five-year contract. The 22-year-old ends a four-year stay in Germany, but now has a great opportunity to play regularly in Patrick Vieira’s squad ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
“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 said in a club interview.
“The kind of project I’ve seen [attracted me],” Richards added. “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.”
Richards spent the last 18 months on loan at fellow Bundesliga club Hoffenheim, logging 34 combined appearances, one goal, and two assists under Sebastian Hoeness. Richards missed the final month of the 2021-22 Bundesliga season due to an ankle injury, which also kept him out of U.S. men’s national team duty last March.
A former FC Dallas academy player, Richards made 10 appearances for Bayern’s first team. Despite working his way up from Bayern’s U-19 squad, Richards had been forced out on loan in back-to-back seasons in order to play regularly.
Richards has earned eight caps with the USMNT to date, with five of those coming in the octagonal round of World Cup Qualifying. He becomes the latest USMNT player to move to England, joining Christian Pulisic, Brenden Aaronson, Tyler Adams, and Antonee Robinson.
Crystal Palace finished 12th in the EPL last season, totaling 48 points through 38 matches.
Yes, this has been in the works for a long time, I am glad Richards move has gone through. Cannot wait to see Richards, in action against top EPL opposition! Let’s go USA 🇺🇸 ⚽✌🎉🎈🎊💯!
American EPL’ers
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Jesse Marsh – Leeds United (coach)
Christin Pulisic – Chelsea
Tyler Adams – Leeds United
Brenden Aaronson – Leeds United
Antonee Robinson – Fulham
Tim Ream – Fulham
Matt Turner – Arsenal
Folarin Balogun – Arsenal (Born in the U.S. but could still play for England)
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NOW Chris Richards…gotta love it!!!!! Every week is going to be filled with excitement and high expectations!!!!! absolutely love it!!!!
Don’t forget about Alex Mighten -Nottingham Forest ( could still play for England category).
WWWOW It’s Ok……thanks for putting me on to this kid
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Full name – Alexander Cole Mighten
Date of birth – 11 April 2002 (age 20)
Place of birth – Hartford, Connecticut, United States
Position(s) – Winger
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He has to be good as he has been representing England at the youth levels and now is in the EPL.
Some reports that Mighten was starting his paperwork to switch to US in May. I think Sciaretta broke the news or was one of the early reports. Then nothing has been reported since so not sure if it happened. Only played 170 minutes after Nov. 6 due to injury so it will be interesting to see how much he plays with Forest in the EPL.
Nice, cant wait for it to go through, he has to get playing tike so he can be considered for Qatar.
time*
There is word that CP wants to play 3 at the back, so if that’s the case he’ll get plenty of playing time and even if they don’t go with 3 at the back I still CR as a main player in defense for Palace
He’s got a national teamers from both England and Denmark ahead of him at CP. He’ll get PT, though how much I dunno.
Hopefully it works out for him. Was hoping he’d end up sticking at Bayern, but you know that’s always long odds.
Hope he ends up in a top league where he gets consistent starts. He has shown enough quality at Hoffenheim that he should land somewhere decent. Crystal Palace has been a decent side, so it would be a good place for him.