Crystal Palace have several players away on international duty right now, including Justin Devenny for Northern Ireland.
Perhaps the main story for Crystal Palace during this international break surrounds Jean-Philippe Mateta who’s been called up by France for the first time in his career.
The striker who was playing French third tier football less than 10 tears ago is now brushing shoulders with the likes of Kylian Mbappe and the rest of the French senior team.
On Friday night, he made his debut as a late substitute against Azerbaijan in a 3-0 French win. Others featured on Friday night too, including Christantus Uche, Ismaila Sarr, and Justin Devenny.
Devenny played the full 90 minutes as Northern Ireland beat Slovakia 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier, with an own goal and one from Sunderland’s Trai Hume.
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The 22-year-old Crystal Palace man has played seven times in the Premier League this season, coming on as a late substitute as Palace lost 2-1 against Everton in their last outing with Oliver Glasner often using the midfielder late on in games.
Devenny started on the left side of midfield on Friday night and played the full 90. Belfast Live gave him a 7/10 rating and so too did Belfast Telegraph, who wrote of the Palace man’s display: “Few crosses lacked accuracy but stung palms of [Martin] Dubravka on the half hour. His anticipation and aggression epitomised Northern Ireland’s intensity and helped out defensively.”
Former Airdrieonians man Devenny featured 23 times in the Premier League last season with one goal and one assist. He now has eight caps for Northern Ireland to his name.
Justin Devenny’s Crystal Palace spot now under threat
He’s certainly a player with potential, but Devenny hasn’t done too much to impress this season and his position might soon come under threat.
Glasner has another young attacker in Romain Esse who’s starting to impress again after his recent fall-out of the first-team.
This week, Esse was called up to the England U21s side after his impressive resurgence at Palace which has seen him scoring for the Eagles’ U21s team.
If Esse can work his way back into the first-team picture then it could force Devenny out of the picture, given the two players play very similar roles on the pitch.
Crystal Palace return to action against Bournemouth next weekend.