Reading FC left-back, Omar Richards, was of interest at Aston Villa as his deal at the Madejski Stadium runs down, but will instead be joining Bayern Munich as of 2021/22. 

Dean Smith is scanning the EFL looking for options to come in and compete with Matt Targett at left-back, with Neil Taylor's contract at Villa Park running down.

A report from The Athletic notes how Rico Henry at Brentford remains an option for Smith, but the Villa interest in Richards will meet a dead-end.

It's claimed that Villa were identifying the 23-year-old as a player of interest heading into the summer, but he's since agreed to join Bayern and move to Germany, where he will land a four-year deal with the current European Champions.

 

 

Richards has been with Reading his entire senior career, making 94 appearances and scoring three goals for the club across all competitions.

This season he's been immense for Veljko Paunovic and has featured in 30 of the club's 35 Championship fixtures so far. Impressive performance upon impressive performance have helped the Royals into promotion contention too.

With 11 games of the regular season remaining, Reading sit fifth in the table, four points clear of seventh and six behind the automatic promotion places.

The Verdict 

It's little surprise to see that there was Premier League interest in Richards given his contract at Reading was running down and he's now going to end up at Bayern Munich.

The 23-year-old has all the attributes to go to the top as a modern-day full-back and it's going to be interesting watching his career in Germany develop.

Before then, though, he's a job to do with Reading, who are firmly in the mix for promotion in the Championship.

Thoughts? Let us know!