Chris Richards has Martin Luther King’s words “I have a dream” tattooed on his right arm alongside inked images of Kobe Bryant and Muhammed Ali. And the USA defender, who was signed by as a teenager, is now one win away from fulfilling his English dream of playing in the at Wembley.

The eloquent star hails from the Alabama city of Birmingham which was at the epicentre of the American civil rights movement in the 1960s. And his impressive body of tattoos today show his icons and “people who inspire me on and off the field”.

But the King quote - his first tattoo done in Munich in 2019 - has special meaning for him as a player and a person. “To be able to have dreams, to shoot for the stars, I think keeps people going and it's what gives people hope,” he said. “And the tattoos for me are just a reminder of what I've gone through or where I'm going and being able to look at my arm and see I have a dream just kind of keeps me motivated.”

Richards, the son of a pro basketball player, admits his career has been a “crazy” journey from joining Germany’s biggest club after a 10-day trial as an 18-year-old to today’s (sat) FA Cup quarter-final at .

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Palace last played in the semi-finals at Wembley under Patrick Vieira in April 2022 just months before the American’s £11m arrival from Bayern Munich. “I didn't quite know the scale of the FA Cup until I got here, but it's the biggest competition for a reason,” said Richards, 25.

“It has always been my dream to play at Wembley. I went to watch the Community Shield there last season. I'm really looking forward to hopefully being on the pitch and embracing the atmosphere. I think anybody can win the FA Cup this year. I don't feel like there's a clear favourite. So hopefully we can kind of underdog mentality that we've had all season long and use it in the cup and hopefully get a trophy by the end of the season.”

Richards has already lost one highly-charged local derby this week as ’s USA lost 2-1 to Canada at the Concacaf Nations League Finals finals in California on Sunday. Before the match, former Leeds and now Canada boss Jesse Marsch told : “If I have one message to our President, it’s lay off the ridiculous rhetoric about Canada being the 51st state.”

Richards admitted “there will always be this hate between Canada and America” in sport but was far more diplomatic about being an American on this side of the Atlantic right now.

“Yeah, it's interesting, you know,” he said carefully. “I think a lot of people come to me with political questions and I can only keep up with so much being over here with the time difference. But it's a tough one because the country pretty much elected who they elected and we all have to live with it. So, again, I try not to stay too much in the political side, but I know it affects everybody.

“I think there's pros and cons to every person who runs our country. And the people elected them for a reason. So I'm sure that there's a good reason for that.” Richards doesn’t have a Donald Trump tattoo but he has one of . It speaks volumes. And he also has inked on his arm the most famous phrase of the 44th President which is just as relevant to his Crystal Palace: “Yes We Can”.

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