Moritz chose Eagles to be happy

September 11 2012

Andre Moritz rejected several clubs around the world to join Crystal Palace.

The Brazilian midfielder joined at the end of last month on a free transfer, having spent time at Turkish outfit Mersin Idmanyurdu.

And when a deal at Rangers failed to materialise, the 26-year-old opted for Selhurst Park at a fraction of the wages.

"I have come to Palace to improve myself," he told the South London Press. "The money that I received today is 20 per cent of what I was getting in Turkey.

"I’m not here for the money - I’m here for the football. I’m here because I really want to have fun. Football is something serious but if you don’t enjoy it at the same time then you cannot be a winner. I want to do one of the best years of my career.

"I had really, really a lot of offers - from China, Turkey, Brazil and Spain, which was from a small club for a small amount of money that didn’t make me happy. There were also teams in Azerbaijan and Romania.

"This year I wanted to play somewhere that I could play to be a champion, really improve myself or try something else."