Chris Richards – Bayern Munich’s intelligent centre-back prospect
A lot of great young prospects have been developed in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for American Football while Birmingham, Alabama is gaining a foothold as a talent hotspot in America. This part of the United States is famed for being a centre of activity in the Civil Rights Movement and has birthed a talent that has moved from being developed at FC Dallas’ fantastic academy to the illustrious Bayern Munich youth system. Chris Richards was an integral facet of Sebastian Hoeness’ title-winning FC Bayern II side while he will look to be integral for the United States at National Team level at U23 level before moving into the Gregg Berhalter’s senior side.
Richards was already impressive in last year’s U20 World Cup in Poland when he played next to Aboubacar Keita as they sought to progress play through short passes. Chris Durkin would drop in between the centre-backs to form a three-chain as this helped the United States’ youth side instigate some attacking moves. Richards had confidence in pushing up to progress play while showing tremendous anticipatory skills to push up and make well-timed challenges. He also showed his aerial prowess both defensively and in the opposition box as in the loss to Ecuador in the Quarter-final, he rose high to head an Alex Mendez corner into the path of Timothy Weah to finish with aplomb to level the score at 1-1.
Richards is a modern-day defender who thrives at defending in a high-line as his anticipation of opposition passing sequences in the counter-pressing phase are incredible. In certain situations, he could nudge an opposition striker out of an area before his teammate works a pass into that zone so the American can make a timely interception in the higher areas of the pitch to set his team on the next attacking wave. Against, Chemnitzer, he had a moment where he had to shift to the right as the defensive block was covering for the right-back pushing forward as his centre-back pushed forward to mark an opponent, leaving Richards in a bind as the ball was played into an attacker on his left. Richards calmly allowed the attacker to cut across without making a rash challenge before moving goal-side of his opponent to make a sliding challenge to block the shooting opportunity. At an early age, Richards understands the value of defending the width of the goal and always being goal-side of his opponent to prevent shooting or crossing opportunities as whenever he is 1v1 with a marker, he always makes the movement to shield the goal.
This could also be seen as an area of improvement for Richards as he will need to get better with his positioning to not have to make sudden movements to defend his goal in such situations but his level-headedness in chasing back while facing his goal is integral for a high-line centre-back. Richards is also in a situation where he plays as a left sided centre-back and also as a left-back despite being right-footed. It is interesting to see if Bayern II’s coaching staff used this as a ploy to develop his all-round game or view it as his long-term position. When a centre-back is not playing on the side of his stronger foot, this causes some issues in distribution as centre-backs will normally push forward and have to re-set their feet and body shape before releasing the ball. This means it takes them a few split seconds longer to distribute and could lead to issues in when the opposition target them in the pressing phase.
Richards has had these issues but has improved at releasing the ball with his left foot in some situations as he has also improved at receiving possession with his left. He uses subtle fakes and shifts against direct markers to buy an extra yard before dribbling past them, lifting up his head and playing line-breaking passes. He normally plays with an older partner but like with the United States Youth National Team, he has creative and ball-playing responsibilities as his centre-back partner will normally work passes to him under pressure so he can drive forward and release the ball.
When releasing the ball with his left foot, Richards will receive the ball, move closer to the touchline and drill line-breaking passes with his left foot. At times, he may receive the ball with an open body shape, allowing the ball to roll across him while he maintains a better overview of the pitch as in other situations he can turn his back to the opposition to receive the ball with the outside of his right boot to then turn and drive forward before working a pass. He also makes subtle movements such as moving wider when his goal-keeper or centre-back partner is in possession before receiving the ball so he can release it closer to the flank so he can move away from pressure to buy himself time before releasing the ball. He is also talented at working lobbed balls over pressure to teammates in the final third.
In a match against Wurzberg Kickers, he played as a left-back as he was not an overlapping left-back but thrived in receiving possession on the flank, connecting play and even moving inside and allowing his winger to hold the wide position. He still preferred to receive the ball with his right foot or receive the ball with his left and cut inside to work passes with his right. He struggled in 1v1s against opposition wingers as the opposition created opportunities on his flank as at times when he was caught out of position, Wurzberg created high-quality goalscoring chances. However, he had this situation where the ball was on the opposite flank but once possession was lost, he rushed into the box to make a timely clearance in a centre-back position. His inability to dribble with his left foot was the catalyst to him losing possession as he had his best moments when he cut inside to work combinations with an attacker moving outside him.
At over six feet tall, his aerial prowess can lead to him winning aerial duels when the opposition are trying to lob balls into runners in behind. He is also a threat in the opposition box with four goals from headers this season as constantly manages to run into space to rise high and head opportunities in. He is well prepared for the physical side of high-level football as he rarely loses a 1v1 physical battle while he makes timely challenges on the ground. He made his debut with the first-team while he will be largely training with Hansi Flick’s side next season as there has been ample interest in a loan move for him. It will be interesting to see him play as a right-sided centre-back as he will have a better overview of the pitch, be able to dribble markers, push forward and release the ball into the central zones with better accuracy and speed.
"Going up against these guys, it gives me both confidence and also gives me stuff to work on. Not everything that I do is perfect in training, and I always want to improve," said Chris Richards to CBS Sports in April. "When I do the good things right in training I'm very proud of myself because it's against one of the top teams in the world, but also when I do some things not so right I take that in and try to get better at it in every session."
Bayern Munich centre-back pecking order is congested with Niklas Sule, Jerome Boateng, David Alaba while Benjamin Pavard can also deputise in the role. They recently sent Lukas Mai on loan to the German 2nd Division as it would be interesting to see if they keep the American youngster or send him out on loan. The United States Youth National side also have a tough CONCACAF Olympic Qualifier against Costa Rica as monitoring Richards’ progress in the next year or so will be interesting. He is a young player with lofty ambitions, a level head and so much talent in a crucial position for a young American side which is bursting with young talent.
