Alan Pardew has thrown a barb towards his former club Newcastle United and praised his Crystal Palace board for taking the decision to go for Liverpool striker Christian Benteke after losing key players this week.
Palace lost their star man of recent seasons, Yannick Bolasie to Everton earlier this week, and also allowed former captain Mile Jedinak to move to Aston Villa, but the London club have quickly invested the money on Benteke.
The Eagles have been in talks with Liverpool for Benteke over the last week or so, and also saw a bid knocked back earlier this week, before they reached an agreement last night for a deal worth £27m.
The Palace boss admits that for the deal to be pushed over the line the Belgian still needs to pass a medical and agree personal terms with the club in the next few days.
However, Pardew is happy that the Palace board didn’t dither and moved swiftly for a player of Benteke’s quality after losing two key players earlier this week, with the kind of backing the Englishman says that he didn’t receive at Newcastle.
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On the Benteke deal, the Palace boss said in a press conference: "It's still subject to a medical and personal terms, but in terms of an agreement with Liverpool finally we seem to have got there.
"I don't want to talk too much about it because it's still not complete.
"But Yannick Bolasie and Mile Jedinak have left this week and I think it's important to replace iconic players with iconic players.
"That's something that didn't always happen at Newcastle, so I'm pleased the board has been brave with his move."
Benteke is currently in London and will undergo a medical with Palace later today.
