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Valérien Ismaël spent less than a year at Crystal Palace before returning to France.

The Eagles signed the 43-year-old from French club Strasbourg for a then club-record deal of £2.75m in January 1998. They had to wait until 2013 to surpass that figure, when they paid £4.5m to Peterborough United for Dwight Gayle.

Though the defender held the tag for the most expensive Crystal Palace player for 15 years, his time at Selhurst Park was a disappointment. He made only 13 appearances for the English club before joining Lens in 1998.

Having retired from professional football in 2009, Ismaël got into management in 2011 and in the summer was appointed as the new boss at Austrian side LASK Linz.

Sky in Austria interviewed the LASK boss and while talking about the importance of language, Ismaël explained learning a life lesson during his time with Palace.

“That was through my experience in England. I left Strasbourg for Crystal Palace back then,” he said.

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“On the first day – I didn’t speak good English at the time – you go into a changing room with 40 players and no one understands you. It took me a really long time to blend in, and I was so sad. I realised that integration is only through language.

“Then I went back to France, and from that moment I said that the next time I go abroad, I will learn the language very well so that I can communicate. And that’s what I did.”

Even though Ismaël struggled at Crystal Palace, he impressed elsewhere as he went on to win the Bundesliga with Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich.