Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson admits they wanted to sign Cenk Tosun two years ago.

Tosun joined Palace on-loan on Friday.

Hodgson said: "As long ago as two years now when we were looking to improve our striking force, Cenk's name came up and was quite heavily scouted by the club. There was a serious interest in us signing him but at the time we faced competition from Everton and Everton won the race for his signature.

"So it's nice now to get a second opportunity, especially at a time when we are desperately in need of improving our striking force. We're very pleased to have him with us because we feel we know him, we feel we know what he can do and what qualities he's going to bring. To some extent we feel he could have been a part of our club much earlier.

"I'm not in the interest of padding out the squad. We are actually short of players in the central attacking areas. We're adding someone we need to be there and will provide competition and is more than capable of being the first name on the teamsheet. No one that we sign this window will be there to pad out the squad."