Julian Speroni pledged his future to Crystal Palace after being convinced he can achieve his Premier League dream in south London.

The goalkeeper put pen-to-paper on a three-and-a-half-year deal on Friday to end months of speculation he was going to leave the club for next-to-nothing in January before his contract ran out in the summer.

Having been denied the chance to join Fulham in August, Speroni was stalling on a new deal but the vision of owners Steve Parish and Martin Long swung his decision in favour of staying at the club where he has been voted player-of-the-year for three seasons straight.

"I had a lot of things to think about and some people say to me I am crazy for staying at Palace when I can go and play wherever I want," he said.

"But in meetings with Steve and Martin we talked about the project for this football club and I want to be part of it.

"I believe they want to put this club in the Premier League and that is what I want - it would be perfect for me to stay at Palace and play in the Premier League and I believe we can do that.

"It is a slow process though.

"I am sure they want to do well this season and we are not that far away - it's not a huge distance to the top six and who knows what can happen in this division?

"We definitely have more than enough to stay up and I think we can finish higher than that.

"I am just glad that finally we can finish will all the speculation and everything about my future and I can concentrate on playing football.

"There has been a lot of talk and it was always in the back of mind.

"I do not think it affected me on the pitch but it has affected me off it and was always in the back of my mind."

For manager George Burley, Speroni's signature is the another piece of his puzzle completed as he continues his rebuilding job.

"The club is a long-term project and I came here in June with 10 players," he said.

"Already we have Darren Ambrose, Paddy McCarthy and Wilfried Zaha signed to new deals and got Owen Garvan in permanently.

"Now Julian has signed so we are building for the future and that's how we are looking to do it - it's not a short-term thing.

"It's a massive bonus for everybody that he has decided to sign as we all know what a tremendous character and goalkeeper he is."