January 29 2015

The Holmesdale Online

Crystal Palace have added to their attacking options with the signing of former Newcastle United forward Shola Ameobi.

The Nigerian international, 33, has signed a short term contract until the end of the season.

The striker spent 14 years at Newcastle netting 79 goals in 397 appearances.

He told the Official Palace website: "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,"

"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."

Ameobi will wear the number 23 shirt in Alan Pardew's squad for the remainder of the Premier League season.