Heading into his second season in charge of Crystal Palace, Patrick Vieira wanted to ensure his squad was bolstered this summer.
That’s why the Eagles decided to spend a bit of money on a couple of players, handing RC Lens over €22m for Cheick Doucouré as well as spending a fair chunk to get Chris Richards from Bayern Munich.
While the Mali international has been a regular starter from the off, the same cannot be said about the centre-back, who has only featured three times for Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
Those came early on in the campaign, and were all from the bench, and while he could have hoped for more later on, a leg injury stopped him in his tracks.
Speaking to L’Equipe about his transfer, he made it clear the interest from Vieira and Crystal Palace wasn’t new.
He said: “With Palace, we already spoke last summer, but it’s at the end of the season that I received a WhatsApp from the manager. He wanted to speak to me before going on holiday.”
Richards also didn’t expect to start straight away, as he said: “It’s hard to change lines. A manager doesn’t change centre-backs like he does strikers, but we spoke with the manager, with the assistants. The process was explained to me from the off. They’re telling me to continue.”
After all, as he puts it: “I arrived this summer. My new teammates had been playing together for more than a year.”
