Sam Allardyce spoke of his delight at securing the signing of Patrick Van Aanholt from Sunderland on a deal that could rise up to £14m.
The Dutch full-back had a great time under Allardyce at Sunderland last year as the Black Cats survived relegation; and now the 26-year-old will hope to help Crystal Palace climb out of a sticky situation.
The Eagles are currently in the bottom three at the moment, and with games against AFC Bournemouth and his former club Sunderland coming up, it’s a huge week for the South London club.
Allardyce says Aanholt will add ‘pace and energy’ to his team
The former England and Sunderland manager is looking to add a bit more pace to the side, and the signing of Jeffrey Schlupp earlier in the window was testament to that.
But Allardyce feels, Aanholt has a different set of qualities, saying: "He will add pace and energy to our team, he has strong defensive qualities and has the added ability to score and create goals.”
Allardyce continued by saying: “I am delighted that Patrick has joined us. We had great success together at Sunderland where he was instrumental in keeping them in the Premier League last season.”
Aanholt looking ‘forward’ to the SE25 challenge
The deal took longer than expected to be completed, the full-back had his medical on Friday. But now the deal is concluded, Steve Parish and Allardyce are moving onto other areas of priorities before the window shuts tomorrow.
Speaking about his move back down to London, Aanholt said: “It’s a great club with great fans and when I spoke to the manager a couple of times he was really interested in signing me which made my choice easier of course.”
Even though he has moved from one club struggling to fight of relegation to another club that are struggling at the wrong end of the table, Aanholt feels ‘positive’ about the situation.
“The manager knows what he’s doing and we’ve got a very strong team, so I think we’ve got enough to survive this year and I’m looking forward to it,” said the Holland international.