Mamadou Sakho completes medical at Crystal Palace and tweets his delight at leaving Liverpool
Central defender signs on for four years at club where he enjoyed a highly successful loan period last season
LIVERPOOL outcast Mamadou Sakho completed his £26million move to Crystal Palace after undergoing a successful medical.
He tweeted his delight with the words: 'Bye bye LFC. Hello CPFC.
It is understood Sakho has signed a four-year deal and that his fee is the second biggest Palace have ever paid for a player.
The current club record is also a signing from Liverpool.
Palace paid around £30m to sign Christian Benteke from The Reds last summer and he went on to become the club’s top goalscorer in 2016/17.
Sakho has been heavily linked with a return to Palace this summer after spending last season on loan to the club.
But the Eagles had found it problematic to agree a deal with Liverpool to sign the Frenchman permanently.
However, just hours before the transfer deadline, they found a breakthrough.
Sakho told the : “I loved the challenge last year; it was difficult but beautiful and it’s why this summer I thought that Palace was the best choice.
Sakho originally played at Selhurst Park under Sam Allardyce. But he was fill of support for new boss Frank de Boer, who is yet to win a Premier League game.
“I think we also have a really good manager with a lot of experience," he said. "He has a new football mentality and we have a great squad so we just need to work hard, and I think that everything will be better soon.
“I fought for PSG for many years and was proud to do that, and I did that as well for Liverpool. Today is a new story for me; I will start to fight again for Palace and I’m proud at the same level.
"Whatever shirt I wear I give 100 per cent, and I will try to give my best here."
Sakho joined Liverpool from Paris Saint-Germain in 2013 and made 80 appearances for the club in total but was frozen out after manager Jurgen Klopp became frustrated with his attitude issues.
West Brom were also thought to be keen on the Frenchman but they pulled out of the race once they realised Manchester City had ended their interest in Jonny Evans.
That allowed Palace to have a free run at Sakho.