At 22, Richards fits the mould of recent Palace signings well, but brings several years’ experience with him despite his age.
Explaining why he has put pen to paper with his first Premier League club, the defender said: “The kind of project I’ve seen [attracted me]. It’s a lot of young players but also young players who have a lot of fight. Palace is a club that seems like they’re always fighting, so it’s really good to see that and they have a young core. The coach’s vision for the team informed my path and really brought me to choose Palace.”
Discussing Vieira’s message so far, Richards said: “[He explained] there’s a core of young players but also a core of veterans that keep everybody level-headed.