Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew has talked up one of his summer signings ahead of this weekend’s fixture against Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal.
Conrad Leach of The Guardian reports that the Eagles manager has been praising record-breaking signing Yohan Cabaye. The ex-Newcastle midfielder was brought in from PSG for a club record fee of £10 million, which could yet increase.
Pardew’s Palace side face Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, with the Eagles playing on a newly-lain Selhurst Park turf for the first time. The manager had this to say about his French midfielder:
“He’s a fantastic player, we are honoured to have him and he is definitely the level of Arsenal players. I don’t think Arsène Wenger or anyone at Arsenal would disagree with that. We have a player who could definitely play in their team and that is a nice feeling for us. He can give us control in games.”
This is bound to irritate his opposite number somewhat as Pardew was Newcastle boss when Wenger had a bid rejected by the Tyneside club for Pardew – and the Magpies then proceeded to sell the player to Paris Saint-Germain in the following window.
Cabaye wasn’t playing every week in France so made the switch back to the Premier League for regular game time, presumably with Euro 2016 in mind, which France are hosting, so are guaranteed to be present at. He’ll have to compete with the likes of Morgan Schneiderlin, Francis Coquelin and Paul Pogba for a place in the side next summer.
Cabaye re-started his Premier League career with the decisive goal as Palace won 3-1 away at newly promoted Norwich last weekend – so Pardew will be hoping he can produce another match-winning performance on Sunday to leave Arsenal with zero points from two games.
