LONDON (AP) – Crystal Palace confirmed the signing of United States (US) centre-back Chris Richards from Bayern Munich on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old signed a five-year contract with the south London club, which paid Bayern a fee reported to be about USD15 million.
The Birmingham, Alabama, native joins a Palace team where Marc Guéhi and Joachim Andersen are projected as starters, with James Tomkins also competing for playing time.
Richards also is competing for a spot on the US World Cup roster.
“I’m really excited for it,” Richards said of the move. “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.”
Richards arrived at Bayern from the academy of Major League Soccer’s Dallas team four years ago. He made his Bundesliga debut in June 2020 against Freiburg, played three league and three Champions League games that fall, then was loaned to Hoffenheim for the second half of the season and made 10 Bundesliga and two Europa League appearances.
