Palace forward Luke Plange became the club’s ninth summer capture this morning, with a six-month loan deal that could extend to the full season, should things go as expected.
Talking about the new arrival, manager Paul Simpson said: “It’s a fantastic one for us in my opinion.
“We’ve had to be patient about it, because he’s been away with his own club over in America, but once he got back we were able to get everything finalised.
“I’m pleased about that, he’s in the building now, and I’m excited to see him playing for us.”
On what we can expect to see, he told us: “When I asked Joe McClaren [head of recruitment] at Derby about him he told me that he’s one who will continually look to get into goalscoring positions.
“He’s got that knack of being able to do that. He’s somebody who can run in behind and he has little bits of dribbling ability and a bit of pace as well.
“Along with him and Sean Maguire, and the forward players we already have in the group, I think we’ve got ourselves a really good mix with good options.
“Hopefully he’ll be able to show everybody what he’s all about, and demonstrate the reason why Palace paid £1m for him just recently.”
Within a month of making his debut for the Rams he was nominated for the Championship player of the month award as he made real strides forward at that level.
“He has a lot of ability and it’s about realising that potential now,” he commented. “He’s the type of forward player who will excite supporters when he gets his game going.
“He’s had a bit of a tough time more recently with a loan to Lincoln which didn’t quite work out for him. He’s been away to Belgium, which I know he enjoyed, so he has games under his belt and decent experience with good teams.
“I think he’ll add to our group in a very positive way. He comes here with a good pedigree, but he’s still very young. There’s so much more football to come from him and we’ve got to hope that he’s here to show everybody what he can produce.
“He wants to be effective for us as a player and, if he is, we’ll reap the benefits of that. We’ve done it as a half-season loan initially, but with the intention of keeping him here longer.
“This is a big signing for us and I really hope it works out. I know he feels the same, I know he’s excited about it, and I know he just wants to get on with it.
“He drove up on Sunday and, as with anyone who isn’t from here, he got a surprise as to just how far that journey is to make, but with the kind of character he is I know he’ll settle in nicely and push on.”