Pardew talks up Cabaye´s Palace impact

Yohan Cabaye’s arrival as Crystal Palace’s record signing could convince Yannick Bolasie to turn down offers from elsewhere, according to manager Alan Pardew.

The former Paris Saint-Germain midfielder is one of five new signings at Selhurst Park in recent weeks, the France international having played under Pardew at Newcastle.

While Pardew was not always hopeful of landing the 29-year-old, the Palace boss hopes Cabaye’s quality can play a part in keeping his side’s best prospects.

“When we initially rang, PSG must have thought: ‘You must be kidding’,” Pardew told The Telegraph.

“My relationship with Yohan went in our favour, the finances of the club went in our favour. He’s Crystal Palace’s biggest signing.

“What it means is that when I sit down with Patrick Bamford, Bakary Sako, Connor Wickham, Yannick Bolasie – because teams are courting Bolasie – I can say to Bolasie, ‘Will you get a better feeder [of the ball] than Yohan Cabaye?’

“On the training ground the players can quite obviously see his quality and therefore his presence. One of the reasons I really targeted Yohan was not just because of his playing ability but because of his professionalism off the pitch.”

Cabaye was one of the success stories of Pardew’s regime at Newcastle – the former Lille man earning his move to PSG off the back of some impressive Premier League showings.

While Pardew was somewhat unpopular late in his time at St James’ Park due to indifferent form, he explained: “I didn’t want the agenda I had [at Newcastle]. I wanted a different one.

“The one thing that is different at this club is that I have full control of transfers.

“I’ve not had that before and actually not many managers in the Premier League have it. The chairman and I have no-one between us and we discuss things every day.

“That was something that was important to me after Newcastle because there were players who went in there who were for the club’s purposes and not for my first XI purposes. 

“That’s frustrating, especially after I had such a great start.”