Yohan Cabaye: No big English clubs wanted to sign me

Crystal Palace midfielder Yohan Cabaye said none of the top Premier League sides were interested in signing him this summer after he decided to return to England from France.

The Eagles signed the France international from French champions Paris Saint-Germain for a club record fee last month, after he scored only one goal in 22 league starts for PSG since joining from Newcastle United in January 2014.

"No one from the big clubs came forward, but it's not a default choice, far from it," the 29-year-old, who has been reunited with former manager Alan Pardew at Palace, told the London Evening Standard.

“I have been reunited with my former coach and I was not heading into the unknown. I feel really good,” he added.

Then Newcastle manager Pardew brought Cabaye to the Premier League in 2011 after signing him from Lille.

Newcastle then sold the midfielder to PSG, but Cabaye failed to settle after making the move back to France.

“It didn’t go as I wanted in Paris, but I have no hard feelings towards anyone,” said Cabaye, who scored on his debut for Palace in their 3-1 away to Norwich City earlier this month.

“It’s hard when you know you’re in a team where you’re going to try things and, in the end, when you try them, sometimes you pull them off and sometimes not,” he added.

“I know that when I arrived, perhaps there were certain players that didn’t want me to come. As soon as there was a ball lost, an interception missed or not the right pass, people would shout, would look at you strangely,” the midfielder said.

“Perhaps I lacked a little insouciance in my play. Perhaps I asked myself too many questions. That’s why I don’t want to hide behind injuries and excuses. Yes, I think there wasn’t enough ‘Yohan’ in my game.”