Update, January 24:FC Dallas have sold defender Chris Richards to Bayern Munich, the club announced Thursday.
“Chris Richards is a phenomenal talent with a bright future ahead of him,” said FC Dallas President Dan Hunt in a statement. “We’re proud to develop players who can play for one of the sport’s most successful clubs. Chris’ transfer reflects our commitment to our philosophy of grooming players at the local level who can compete on a global stage.”
January 5:FC Dallas have completed the sale of US youth international center back Chris Richards to Bayern Munich, a source confirmed to MLSsoccer.com on Saturday.
The source said that Bayern will pay Dallas a transfer fee in the low seven-figure range for Richards. FCD will also receive a cut of a future transfer fee if Bayern eventually sell the 18-year-old, who spent the second half of 2018 on loan to the German giants.
Goal.com’s Ives Galarcep reported in December that Richards’ move to Bayern was being finalized for a $1.25 million fee. FCD owner and president Dan Hunt told MLSsoccer.com 10 days after Galarcep’s report that a deal wasn’t quite done, but that Dallas and Bayern were discussing a potential transfer.
An Alabama native, Richards joined the FCD academy in the summer of 2017 and signed a Homegrown deal with the club last April, though he was unable to be rostered at the time due to MLS rules. He was loaned to Bayern in July without making a first-team appearance for Dallas, who have a partnership with Bayern. He played in several friendly matches with Munich’s first team during the International Champions Cup last summer and went on to make 13 appearances with their U-19 side before his loan expired at the end of December.
Richards helped the US Under-20 national team to the Concacaf Championship title in November, going the full 90 in their semifinal and final victories after receiving a late call-up to the squad.
