Former Fulham defender Brede Hangeland has agreed to join Crystal Palace after signing a one-year contract with Tony Pulis’ side.

The 33-year-old Norway international spent the past six seasons with Fulham before leaving the club following its relegation to the Championship last season.

Upon his departure, Hangeland had some parting words for the London club and its new boss, Felix Magath.

Earlier in July, the defender voiced his displeasure after the German tactician was unable to steer the London side from relegation; Fulham had spent the previous thirteen seasons in the English top flight.

“He is very difficult to work with. He has a reputation of being a very strict manager, which he is,” Hangeland told Sky Sports News.

“I think his main tool is to try and mentally and physically batter his players and then hopefully get some results out of that.

“Is that a right fit for English football? I don’t think so personally, I thought rather than help us try and avoid relegation, I think he made things worse and harder for us.

“I hope I’m wrong because I really love the club, but in a word no, I don’t think he is the right man.

Hangeland, who made 270 appearances for Fulham, also claimed to have been informed of his release from the club by email.

Despite his unhappiness with the circumstances involved with the end of his career at Fulham, the Norway captain has expressed his ‘delight’ at joining Tony Pulis’ side at Selhurst Park.

“I’m delighted to be here. I look forward to helping out and doing the best I can for this club,” he told Palace’s official website. “I’m quite old school as a player, I just want to be part of a good group of players, working for a good manager, working really hard and driving something in the right direction.”

“All the people I spoke to told me that’s what’s going on at Crystal Palace and I really wanted to be a part of that. It’s a traditional club with a big following. I thought the atmosphere here was fantastic and obviously the fans had a lot to be happy about come the end of the season.”

“If we can do something similar to that this season, that would be great. I’m really looking forward to playing in front of those fans as soon as possible.”

Hangeland will provide serious competition to Palace defenders: Scott Dann, Paddy McCarthy and Damien Delaney in the heart of Tony Pulis’ defense. He will be the third new signing of the summer, following Frazier Campbell and goalkeeper Chris Keetings who arrived at Selhurst Park a few weeks ago.

Crystal Palace will be looking to improve on last season’s eleventh place finish on the Premier League table.