Ex-Crystal Palace ace Jason Puncheon joins Cypriot side Pafos FC on free transfer

JASON PUNCHEON has moved to Cyprus First Division club Pafos FC on a two-year deal.

After six seasons at Crystal Palace, the veteran midfielder was a free agent having been released earlier in the summer.

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And Pafos are certainly delighted to have him.

The club heralded his arrival as "making history with the greatest transfer in Pafos football and one of the most important transfers in Cypriot football".

Puncheon won't be the only Englishman competing in Cyprus next season, with Omonia striker Matt Derbyshire and recent Salamania recruit Jay Simpson plying their trade on the Mediterranean.

Last season saw the midfielder battle back from a cruciate ligament injury picked up in January 2018, reducing him to a handful of appearances at Palace.

A loan stint at Huddersfield Town ended in acrimony after a row with manager Jan Siewert over being taken off just 20 minutes into a defeat to Newcastle.

Breaking into the Wimbledon team as a teenager before the club's move to Milton Keynes, Puncheon has become something of a journeyman over the years.

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Spells at Barnet, Plymouth, another at MK Dons, and Southampton kept the player in the lower-tiers until Blackpool gave him a shot at the Premier League in 2010/11.

When Saints made their way to the top-flight he enjoyed a successful run in the team before heading to Palace.

Puncheon found great consistency at Selhurst Park, earning the club captaincy in the summer of 2017.

Pafos finished eighth in the Cypriot top-flight last season and boast former Northampton winger Alex Konstantinou among their ranks.