Crystal Palace picks up utility man Riedewald for reported £7.9M

Frank de Boer welcomed a familiar face to Selhurst Park on Monday with the signing of Jairo Riedewald on a five-year contract.

The 20-year-old won his Ajax Amsterdam debut under De Boer in 2013, and reunites with his old manager for what the Guardian's Dominic Fifield reports is a €9-million (£7.9-million) fee.

Riedewald is capable of playing at centre-half, left-back, and defensive midfield, and is the second arrival in Croydon this summer after a season-long loan for Chelsea's Ruben Loftus-Cheek was agreed earlier in July.

The three-time Dutch international will immediately offer competition to Loftus-Cheek, Luka Milivojevic, and newly appointed captain Jason Puncheon in the middle of the park; Jeffrey Schlupp, Martin Kelly, and the injury-ravaged Pape Souare at left-back; and will help fill the centre-back void left by Mamadou Sakho's return to Liverpool at the end of his loan spell. However, the middle of the defence could be replenished further if Palace beats Stoke City and others to the permanent signing of FC Porto's Bruno Martins Indi, according to Fifield.