The Nigerian international, Shola Ameobi has completed deal with Crystal Palace on a free transfer. Ameobi signed a short-term deal with Crystal Palace until the end of the season and was a free agent after leaving Turkish side Gaziantep last month.


"I'm very excited to be here, I wanted to get back in the Premier League and having worked with the manager before it's been great to come back and hopefully help us avoid the relegation battle," he said.

"I had a couple of other clubs interested but I think my relationship with Alan [Pardew] and how much I enjoyed working with him was one of the big factor in my decision. He instils confidence in players and he always seems to get the best out of them, certainly he did that at Newcastle and hopefully he can do that for me and the rest of the lads here.”

The 33-year-old is best known for his time with Newcastle United, where he spent 14 years after breaking into the first-team from their academy. In nearly a decade and a half on Tyneside he appeared 397 times for the Magpies, finding the back of the net 79 times, winning the Championship in 2009/10 and representing the club in the UEFA Champions League.