After joining the south London club on a free transfer, a delighted Brede Hangeland declares he cannot wait to play in fromt of Crystal Palace's fantastic supporters.

The Norway centre-back, whose contract at Fulham finished in the summer, has put pen to paper in signing on a one-year deal at Selhurst Park and could make his Eagles debut as early as Saturday in a pre-season friendly at Brentford. 

"I'm absolutely delighted," the 33-year-old told cpfc.co.uk. "All the things I've heard about this club - the manager, the players, the staff - it's all been good things and I've seen that for myself this morning."

He added: "I'm delighted to be here. I look forward to helping out and doing the best I can for this club."

Hangeland appeared 217 Barclays Premier League for Fulham after signing for the Cottagers from FC Copenhagen in January 2008. During that time he helped Roy Hodgson's Fulham side reach the UEFA Europa League final, which they tasted defeat in extra-time to Atletico Madrid, and established himself as club captain.

"I'm quite old-school as a player, I just want to be part of a good group of players, working for a good manager, working really hard and driving something in the right direction," Hangeland, who has scored eight goals in the English top flight, said. "All the people I spoke to told me that's what's going on at Crystal Palace and I really wanted to be a part of that."

He added: "It's a traditional club with a big following. The atmosphere here was fantastic and obviously the fans had a lot to be happy about come the end of the season. If we can do something similar to that this season, that would be great. I'm really looking forward to playing in front of those fans as soon as possible."

Hangeland's BPL stats:

Season 2007/08 - 15 matches, 37 tackles having 75.68% tackle success, 12 blocks, 227 clearances and 33 headers won.

Season 2008/09 - 37 matches, 1 goal, 69 tackles having 69.57% tackle success, 31 blocks, 499 cleareances and 69 headers won.

Season 2009/10 - 32 matches, 1 goal, 49 tackles having 71.42% tackle success, 18 blocks, 317 clearances and 49 headers won.

Season 2010/11 - 37 matches, 6 goals, 61 tackles having 72.13% tackle success, 38 blocks, 423 clearances and 61 headers won.

Season 2011/12 - 38 matches, 53 tackles, 77.36% tackle success, 35 blocks, 263 clearances, and 53 headers won.

Season 2012/13 - 35 matches, 48 tackles, 85.42% tackle success, 41 blocks, 337 clearances, 48 headers won. And,

Season 2013/14 - 23 matches, 24 tackles, 97% tackle success, 15 blocks, 183 clearances and 24 headers won.

Before coming to the Barclays Premier League, Hangeland elevated the Norwegian Cup with his first professional club, Viking FK, and won back-to-back Danish Superliga titles at FC Copenhagen.

The 6ft 6in (1.99 metres) defender, who has also amassed 91 caps for for Norway, whom he still captains, and scored four goals, becomes Palace's third signing of the summer following the arrivals of striker Fraizer Campbell and Scotland Under-21 goalkeeper Chris Kettings.

(Source: Barclays Premier League official website)