Bayern Munich sign FC Dallas teenager Chris Richards to U19 team
As part of the partnership formed between the two clubs earlier this year, Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich have announced the signing of FC Dallas defender Chris Richards to the club’s U19 squad for 2018/19.
Richards, 19, completed a ten-day trial at the Bayern youth campus earlier this year but has now become a permanent member of the club after impressing during his first period in Germany.
“Chris made a very good impression during his trial in Munich, so we’ve decided to bring him here and give him a chance to play for our U19s,” Campus director Jochen Sauer told the Bayern club website: “We have a lot of confidence in him.”
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The club’s partnership will exchange coaching expertise, as well as players, with the MLS club, and Richards has become the first fruit of that labour for the record Bundesliga champions.
The Alabama-born defender has said he tries to play like his favourite player, Jerome Boateng, and Sebastian Hoeneß – coach of the U19 team – will certainly be hoping he can do just that.
“I’m really looking forward to this big adventure with this great club and to improving at FC Bayern,” said Richards. “I hope to become a better player on and off the field and bring back a professional mindset to FC Dallas.”
Richards is not the only FC Dallas talent to have visited the Bayern training ground in the last few months, and the club are hoping that the partnership can further help support the growth of soccer in the US, as well as help unearth the next American superstar.