Riedewald reunited with De Boer at Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace have signed Ajax defender Jairo Riedewald for a fee reported to be in the region of £8million.

The versatile 20-year-old has signed a five-year deal at Selhurst Park to be reunited with boss Frank de Boer, who handed him his debut at Ajax in 2013.

Riedewald has three Netherlands caps to his name but was unable to nail down a regular starting spot under Peter Bosz at Ajax last season, having missed a chunk of the 2015-16 campaign with a broken ankle.

He is the second arrival of the close-season at Palace, following the loan signing of Ruben Loftus-Cheek from Chelsea.

De Boer told Palace’s official website: “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.”

TRANSFER: The club announce that Jairo Riedewald has completed his transfer to #CPFC from @AFCAjax_EN#RiedewaldIsOurs pic.twitter.com/JjB2A6cUkx

— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) July 24, 2017

Riedewald added: “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. 

“I look forward to meeting my new team mates and then getting the chance to be out on the training ground and getting ready for the new season.”

Riedewald operates primarily at centre-back and De Boer is seemingly keen on bringing in further defensive reinforcements for his first season at the helm, with Palace linked to Porto’s Bruno Martins Indi and Arsenal youngster Calum Chambers.

Liverpool’s Mamadou Sakho impressed while on loan at Palace last season but De Boer has been reportedly put off by a £30million asking price to make the transfer permanent.