Both Crystal Palace and Southampton have a reported interest in signing Bayern Munich defender Chris Richards this summer.
The 22-year-old, who plays primarily as a centre-back but can also play as a full-back, has made ten first-team appearances across all competitions for Bayern, spending the last season and a half on loan to fellow Bundesliga side Hoffenheim.
He’s highly regarded by the Bavarian club, with the Athletic reporting his signing wouldn’t come cheaply if Palace or the Saints were to come knocking. Julian Nagelsmann is said to be happy with his current group of centre-backs and includes Richards, who is under contract at the Allianz Arena until 2025, in that group.
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Richards’ addition would seem like a sensible one, even if Palace could only tempt Bayern into sending him to Selhurst Park on a season-long loan. The Alabama-born USA international’s versatility and comfort playing across the back line would help cover various positions and his physicality mixed with composure in possession would compliment Patrick Vieira’s current group of defenders who are trusted to play out from the back.
Right now it’s unclear if Palace’s interest will go any further than just that, though their current attentions seem to be on securing a deal for Lens’ Cheick Doucoure before any other clubs can jump in and take their number one transfer target away from them. The Eagles are said to have already tabled their first offer of around £14.5million for the midfielder which is some way off the French club’s valuation believed to be just over £20million.
Palace are also said to be looking at Chelsea’s Lewis O’Brien and weighing up a loan move for Manchester United’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka as well as having an interest in Richards. The need for defensive reinforcements didn’t appear to be a huge issue for Vieira last season as first-choice defenders Joachim Andersen, Marc Guehi and Tyrick Mitchell all remained fit for the majority of the season.
Losing one of them for any length of time would have exposed Palace though, and with Vieira said to be eyeing up a switch of formation to a three-man defence next season it makes sense that the club are casting a wide net and looking at several players as they search for the right additions. The Eagles boss spoke before the end of the season about needing to ensure he struck a right balance between experienced players and young players in his squad during the transfer window, saying the summer would be a hugely important time fo the club.
“It’s all about making sure that, as a manager, and with my staff, we keep maintaining the level of the quality of the players,” he said. “With the way that we work, expecting them to improve, then trying to bring in those couple of players who will help us to be stronger as a team. We have to keep challenging ourselves, and we want to be ambitious.
“It is always important to have the right balance between young players and experience. Between how many players [who might] come in and those leaving, those players have given a lot to this football club, so that is why this window will be massively important for us.”
