Crystal Palace tweeted a cringeworthy Friends Reunited-themed video to announce the £8million signing of James McCarthy from Everton.

The clip displays Palace midfielder James McArthur outside an internet cafe (green screen), then cuts to a graphic showing the Friends Reunited home page.

A search is entered for James McCarthy, resulting in the Republic of Ireland international popping up on screen in a Palace shirt.

James McArthur heads to the internet cafe to do some research on Friends Reunited

Crystal Palace announced the signing of James McCarthy with a hilarious video

The 'Friend Found' notification lists Hamilton Academical and Wigan Athletic under 'common connections', clubs where McArthur and McCarthy played together.

The Scotland international can then be seen shouting 'Yeah' in celebration at the end of a toe-curling 15-second clip.

But Palace have been able to see the funny side after football fans mocked their creative efforts, tweeting another clip of James McCarthy making the VAR gesture.

good job I had already screen recorded it then! 👀😂 pic.twitter.com/8vbvYA8jUL — darren millard 🦅 (@darrenmillard5) August 7, 2019

31-year-old makes his way out of the cafe to celebrate a third spell alongside McCarthy

The message reads: VAR check complete. Tweet deleted...'

Palace boss Roy Hodgson was delighted to sign 28-year-old McCarthy on Wednesday evening.

He told the club's official website: 'I'm really pleased we've been able to bring James to the club because he's a player I've admired for a very long time.

'He's a player with a vast amount of Premier League experience, given his six and four years playing for Everton and Wigan respectively, and will be an excellent addition to our midfield.'