‘Surreal’ – Stuart O’Keefe on Edgar Davids’ Crystal Palace spell

Former Crystal Palace midfielder Stuart O’Keefe says it was “surreal” seeing Edgard Davids turn up for training during their time together at the club in 2010.

O’Keefe, 19 at the time, joined the Eagles that summer from then-League One side Southend United.

Davids, 37, had played for Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona and Tottenham, winning the Champions League and three Scudettos during his career.

The Dutch midfielder Davids joined under George Burley and played seven times for the club before leaving after a 3-0 defeat to Swansea.

“It was surreal,” O’Keefe told the South London Press of seeing Davids in training.

“I remember playing a night game when I was 10, and at that time, Edgar Davids was on all of the Nike adverts. He had played for Barca and Juventus, and he just turned up at training and we found out he had signed for us.

“I remember Dougie reading out the teams for seven aside and he went down the list and he got to Edgar Davids – it didn’t seem real at the time.

“To learn from him, about his mentality and experiences – it was excellent for me.

“I remember him being aggressive in training. He was called the ‘pitbull’ and I learnt a bit from that.

“He didn’t care what anyone thought and he was so aggressive. Even at his age and with what he had achieved in the game, he didn’t need to be. But he was still absolutely on it every single day, looking to get better and looking to help people.

“Still to this day, I look back at the mindset he had. You were learning from one of the best.”

See Friday’s South London Press for an exclusive interview with O’Keefe about his time at Crystal Palace.