He becomes Palace’s fifth signing of the transfer window after deals for Yohan Cabaye, Alex McCarthy, Patrick Bamford and Connor Wickham.
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Pardew had also been linked with his captain at Newcastle, Fabricio Coloccini, but after previously revealing his pessimism about his chances of securing the central defender’s arrival, he said that his only expectation now was that some players would leave.
The former Paris Saint-Germain midfielder, who played under Pardew at Newcastle United, is one of five new signings to arrive at Selhurst Park in recent weeks. “There will be temptation for me to change things, but it must be right”.
He moved to Crystal Palace, newly promoted to the Premier League, in the summer of 2013 and has since scored 18 goals in 55 games. We are trying to improve and we are doing it top down which is not ideal.
But McClaren is adamant that Newcastle had to work hard on keeping Coloccini, who had outlined to him that he was keen to finish his career at St James’.
The 54-year-old manager surprised many when he left the north-east club, comfortably positioned in mid-table, to succeed Neil Warnock at Palace in January as they battled to remain in the Premier League.
He added: “The memories of Attilio Lombardo playing for Palace linger and I’m hoping that will be the same for Cabaye when, 10 years from now, fans will say, “Remember when we had Yohan Cabaye playing for us”.
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And he has fired a warning to his Premier League rivals, insisting his side are “exciting” and “good to watch”. We really have to be ready. A great start won’t count for much until we reach that point, nor will a bad start in comparison.
