Crystal Palace defender Chris Richards has praised the growing number of American players moving to the Premier League and Championship, saying English football is increasingly tapping into the United States talent pool.
Chris Richards was speaking while training with the USMNT alongside Crystal Palace teammate Zavier Gozo, who joined the club from Real Salt Lake during the summer.
Richards welcomes American players in England
Zavier Gozo, 19, has become the latest American to make the move to the Premier League with Palace, while Max Arfsten, Jack McGlynn, Sebastian Berhalter, Luca Bombino and Rokas Pukstas have moved to the Championship.
Richards believes the growing presence of American players shows the quality coming through the country’s football system.
“They see that we have some hardworking guys and some guys with talent, and so they kind of tapped into our pipeline and brought players over,” Richards said as quoted by ESPN.
“For us, it’s very exciting because I think the Prem, or at least the English Football League in general, is the best setup in the world, and it’s the toughest.”
The Palace defender also highlighted the changing perception of American players among English supporters, pointing to the number of USMNT shirts now being seen in stadiums.
“You see people in the crowds wearing U.S. jerseys now. So I think it’s really cool to have seen the kind of the development and the respect that us Americans have gotten over the last few years in the Premier League,” Richards added.
Gozo is now enjoying his first senior USMNT opportunity at 19.
“It’s been amazing. Obviously, just from knowing that I’m getting called up to being here and being with everyone, and obviously players that I’ve looked up to for a while now, so I feel like it’s been kind of surreal,” he said.
