Andros Townsend has signed for Everton, penning a two-year contract until the end of June 2023.

The 30-year-old winger joins on a free transfer after his contract expired with Crystal Palace, where Townsend spent the past five years.

Before that, the forward – who has 13 England caps – worked with new Blues manager Rafa Benitez at Newcastle United, and Townsend revealed the combination of reuniting with the Spaniard and joining “massive and ambitious” Everton was an opportunity he could not turn down.

“I think everyone knows what Everton is. It’s a massive football club, it’s very ambitious, a club which has been trying to get back to where it belongs into Europe and beyond,” Townsend told evertontv. “I’ll be doing all I can to help the Club do that.

“Everton is a massive football club and has big ambitions next season. As the old cliché goes, it was a no-brainer.

“Rafa is very experienced. He does a lot of work on the tactical side on the training pitch, he leaves no stone unturned. But more importantly, he’s a great man, a great man-manager, and he’s always talking to you. I’m sure he will be very successful here.”

Townsend started his career at boyhood club Tottenham Hotspur, coming through the club’s youth academy and spending seven years at White Hart Lane before moving to Newcastle in 2016.

Townsend’s whirlwind stay at St James’ Park yielded four goals and two assists from 13 appearances, with Newcastle resurgent under new manager Benitez but falling short of hauling the club out of the Premier League’s relegation zone after a desperate start to the campaign.

After five seasons with Crystal Palace, the new Blue is eager to make his mark on Merseyside.

“My strengths are that I can cross a ball with my left or right foot, get balls into the box. I like to score a goal or two,” said Townsend. “I work hard off the ball, too, which is something I got better at with Rafa.

“My job now is to prove I’m good enough to be an important part of this football club and that’s what I’m working hard in training and in games – and whenever I get the opportunity in pre-season - to prove I’m good enough to be an important player here. That’s what drives me.”