Crystal Palace have completed the signing of striker Shola Ameobi on a free transfer.





The Nigerian international has signed a short-term with the Eagles 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.





Ameobi has also won 10 caps for Nigeria where he was born before moving to Newcastle as a youngster. He represented the Super Eagles in the 2014 World Cup, having previously won 20 caps for the England under-21 side.





He is no stranger to Palace boss Alan Pardew, having played under him for Newcastle for four years before moving to Turkey in the summer on a free after his contract expired. He scored four times in 11 outings for Gaziantep before returning to England just before the new year.





The striker will wear the number 23 shirt during his time with Palace, and is the club's third signing of the transfer window after Yaya Sanogo and Jordon Mutch.





Watch an exclusive interview with Shola on YouTube:



