Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew has dismissed suggestions he has gambled by signing former Arsenal, Manchester City, Real Madrid and Tottenham striker Emmanuel Adebayor.

"We've incentivised his contract to do that, in terms of him being a success," said Pardew.

"I see in him a desire to get his career back on track, and I think I can help him. I'm hoping that's a win-win situation for him and for us.

"You cannot underestimate the quality he has. I've tried to sign him twice before, once at West Ham, when I came that close, and at Newcastle we talked long and hard about him.

"He's a character that needs to be loved and the group I have... he's going to get that.

"For us it's about bringing in a striker to give everyone a boost. We all felt sorry for ourselves, no (Yannick) Bolasie, Connor (Wickham's) now suspended, so it's great for us.

"You can see in the training ground there's a lift already. He's done the first part of his job because everybody is really pleased he's here.

"The only risk is if he doesn't play well. I can't see any other risk. I think we discard players quite quickly, and sometimes too early.

"If you look at Harry Redknapp's career, he was very good at regenerating some senior players who were supposedly at the end of their careers, and I've had a couple of situations like that: Teddy Sheringham springs to mind, who was playing in my Premier League team (at West Ham) at the age of 38.

"You sometimes cannot get the kind of quality that Adebayor can bring. We're very fortunate to have him, I make no bones about that. Our fans should be very optimistic, because I am."