February 5 2002

Selhurst bound

Crystal Palace have completed the signing of Leicester striker Ade Akinbiyi for £2.2m.

Akinbiyi was unveiled at a 10am press conference at Selhurst Park alongside Trevor Francis, who twice tried to sign him when he was Birmingham City boss.

He will cost Palace another £150,000 if they win promotion to the Premiership within 3 years.

He was snapped up by the Foxes for £5m from Wolves in the summer of 2000 as Emille Heskey's replacement and had been on a rich vein of form for Wolves the previous season in Division One, scoring 16 goals.

In his first Leicester campaign, he netted 10 goals, but has found it hard to find the back of the net this season, scoring only three times in a struggling team.

Palace fans will be hoping he rekindles his proven First Division form at the club, although in the current Holmesdale Online poll, only 30 per cent of readers think he would be a good signing.

Akinbiyi turned down a loan move to former club Wolves earlier in the season which was a view to a permanent deal. The move back a division should help restore his confidence and get him back to goalscoring ways.

It will also be a return to his native London after spells at Norwich, Gillingham, Bristol City and Wolves.

Quotes from the Press Conference

Trevor Francis: "I am very, very pleased to have Ade on board with us. He's a player that I have tried to obtain for three years without success.

"When he was at Bristol City I was keen to take him to my former club Birmingham and I am very happy to have him in the squad here at Crystal Palace.

"I think he's proved himself to be of a standard required to be successful in the First Division.

"He was a success at Gillingham and has continued to improve as a player. I was thwarted by Wolves when I tried to buy him and he did very well to earn his move to the Premiership.

"He's got a lot of good qualities, he's strong, powerful and has good pace. His goalscoring record has been good in the First Division.

"The only low point in his career so far has been in the first two thirds of this season but there is still a third of the season remaining.

Akinbiyi said: "I'm delighted that I'm here and am looking forward to scoring goals. The confidence got to me at Leicester but I was strong enough to deal with it and I still believe that I can score goals."