Alan Pardew tips Bakary Sako to provide competition at Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew has backed new signing Bakary Sako to provide valuable competition within his squad.

The winger joined the Eagles on a free transfer earlier this week after leaving Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Pardew believes that the 27-year-old, who scored 15 goals last season, will push fellow wide players Wilfried Zaha and Yannick Bolasie to improve this season.

"Every time I looked at him at Wolves, I kept thinking 'he's a Crystal Palace footballer'," he told the club's official website.

"Quick, dynamic, strong. His goal record is what attracted me to him. He scores goals from the wide areas and I think that's something that we need to improve on. He's been brought here to provide direct competition for Bolasie and Zaha, because both those guys need to score more goals."

Palace get the new Premier League season underway with a trip to Norwich City tomorrow.