Brighton sign Taylor Richards from Manchester City for a rumoured £2.5m

Brighton have completed the signing of England youth international Taylor Richards from Manchester City for an undisclosed fee believed to be in the region of £2.5m.

The 18-year-old has taken the decision to move from the Etihad Stadium because he believes his chances of playing senior football will be better served at the Amex.

He has signed a two-year contract with the Albion having previously been linked with a move to Inter Milan. Monaco had a £500,000 bid rejected by City in 2017.

Richards is an attacking midfielder who is comfortable playing anywhere across the front line. He was used mainly on the right wing last season after breaking into City’s Under 23 squad, scoring six goals in 24 appearances across Premier League 2, the UEFA Youth League and the EFL Trophy.

Because of his tender years, Richards was also eligible to turn out for City’s Under 18s. He made five appearances for their youth team, netting three times.

Although he never made a senior appearance for City, Pep Guardiola was suitably impressed by his talents to name him among the substitutes for the Citizens’ Carabao Cup semi final second leg against Burton Albion.

Richards has been capped by England at Under 17 level three times. He joined City in 2015 from Fulham and his coaches at the Etihad have touted him as the next Kevin De Bruyne.

We’d take that with a pinch of salt though given City told us we were getting the next Yaya Toure when Abdul Razak arrived on loan in 2011.

Talking to the official club website, Dan Ashworth said, “Taylor is an exciting young talent. He has already played for England at junior levels and pre-season will be a great opportunity for us to see his ability at first hand. He is keen to play senior football, so that is the first challenge for him.”

The fee for Richards puts him into the top 20 most expensive Brighton players of all time. While we’ve seen the Albion splash the cash before on young players, those fees have tended to go on players such as Ales Mateju and Viktor Gyokeres who were in their early 20’s when they were brought.

We’ve never spent that much before – Mateju comes closest at £2m – and certainly not on an 18-year-old. The powers that be must be highly impressed by Richards to have sanctioned the purchase while Richards for his part must have been convinced that he’ll have opportunities to play for him to swap City for Sussex.

What happens now will be interesting. With four more first team friendlies to come before the Premier League season gets underway, will Graham Potter hand his new acquisition any game time in the senior set up or will he be integrated through Simon Rusk’s Under 23s?

Potter has shown he is willing to give youth a chance with Steve Alzate and Max Sanders both getting 45 minutes each against FC Liefering at the weekend.

Should we see Richards at some point over the next three weeks, then that will offer some indication about what the plan will be for him this season.

Richards will no doubt be hoping the move sees him following the career trajectory of his former City teammate Jadon Sancho.

Sancho was a year above Richards in the City youth setup and arrived at around in Manchester at around the same time.

Since swapping the Etihad Stadium for Borussia Dortmund, Sancho has gone onto become an England regular and one of the most dangerous attacking players in the Bundesliga – all at the age of 19.

If Richards can produce something similar, then the Albion will have quite a player on their hands.