Palace complete signing of Ajax defender Riedewald
Crystal Palace have completed the signing of Ajax defender Jairo Riedewald on a five year deal for an undisclosed fee, believed to be in the region of £8million.
Crystal Palace manager Frank de Boer handed Riedewald his debut in 2013 when the pair were at Ajax and has been keen to bring the defender to the Premier League since his arrival at the end of June.
Riedewald has been at Ajax since the age of 11 and arrives at Palace with one Eredivise title and a Euro League runners up medal.
The three times capped defender for the Netherlands is a ball playing defender and joins Palace as de Boer
looks to implement a more possession based style of play.
Speaking to the club website, Riedewald said he is looking forward to working with de Boer again. “I am very pleased to be joining Crystal Palace and after speaking with the gaffer a couple of weeks ago I was delighted to have the opportunity to come over and play in the Premier League.
“The Premier League is a great competition to be involved in and it is a great opportunity to be working under Frank de Boer once again having been with him at Ajax.” Riedewald is de Boer’s first permanent signing as Crystal Palace manager after Ruben Loftus-Cheek joined the south-London side on loan from Chelsea.
The former Ajax and Inter Milan manager told the club’s website that he is pleased the 20-year-old is joining him at Palace. “Jairo Riedewald is a player I know well through my time at Ajax and I’m glad that he’s now coming to join us at Crystal Palace.
“He will be an excellent addition to our squad, Jairo is a young player but already has a lot of experience. I know he is looking forward to playing in the Premier League.”
Riedewald will start training with his Crystal Palace teammates who have just from Hong Kong after competing in the Premier League Asia Trophy.