Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Justin Devenny is that there is nothing especially outstanding in his backstory. No recollections of eye-catching goals whistling in from long distance. No history of overcoming adversity. No tale of woe around being released from a Premier League academy. Nothing of that ilk at all.
Yet that is a compliment rather than a criticism. It demonstrates how effective 21-year-old Devenny is at what he does, how unassuming he is and how his work, while never unnoticed, is undertaken quietly, confidently and capably.
Those who know him speak incredibly highly of his professionalism and talent. Grounded, level-headed, quietly confident if relatively unassuming, Devenny has many positive attributes. And those are just the psychological ones.
On the pitch, there are plenty more, not least his boundless energy, which was demonstrated perfectly as he scored Crystal Palace’s second goal in their 2-2 away draw with Aston Villa on Saturday to cap off a memorable few days.
It was a week in which Devenny made his second Premier League appearance, got his first Palace goal and became the youngest player to score for the club in their first away game. There was also the small matter of a senior debut for Northern Ireland.
Devenny has been rewarded for his patience and ability but, above all else, for his professionalism.
It was at Scottish top-flight club Kilmarnock where everything began, as he graduated through their youth system. He had a loan spell at Broomhill of the Lowland League, the fifth tier of Scottish football, over the first half of the 2021-22 season, then completed the campaign with another at Airdrieonians in Scottish League One, two divisions higher.
Despite being offered a new six-month contract at Kilmarnock in the summer of 2022, he chose to return to the side commonly known as Airdrie in a permanent move, hoping for regular senior football. Devenny made 24 league starts in the promotion-winning season that followed, and scored the opening goal in a 6-2 win against Falkirk in the play-off semi-final, with scouts across the game duly alerted.
Congratulations to ex-Diamond Justin Devenny, who capped a week to remember by grabbing his first goal for Crystal Palace today. We don’t know if the finish was as good as this one from the 2023 play-off semi-final, but we’re sure it’s the first of many. Well done, Justin! pic.twitter.com/2x0Erc5kOV
— Airdrieonians FC (@AirdrieoniansFC) November 23, 2024
Palace have an extensive scouting network in Scotland, and the data around Devenny’s performances even in the third tier alerted their recruitment team to his potential as he took those first steps in senior football. They watched him in person and tracked his progress, attracted to his left-footedness, and eventually took the plunge. An initial fee of £150,000 brought him to south London to join up with their under-21s.
It might have been a gamble to move across the border and drop back into youth football, but he has thrived. He knuckled down and adapted quickly to new surroundings far from home. Palace were impressed.
Despite his roots being in Scotland, where he was born and where he emerged through the Scottish FA’s performance schools programme, Devenny’s international career has begun with Northern Ireland, for whom he qualifies through his Belfast-born mother. His senior bow came as a late substitute in the 2-2 Nations League draw away to Luxembourg last Monday.
He is the latest young player to emerge through the Irish FA’s system, along with his fellow 21-year-olds Liverpool full-back Conor Bradley, Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Shea Charles and Isaac Price, the former Everton midfielder now at Belgium’s Standard Liege.
6 years ago Justin Devenny was part of a really talented Ayrshire Schools FA team that reached the final of the @sschoolsfa NationalFinal. This week he has made his debut for @NorthernIreland and today scored his first goal in the Premier League for @CPFC. Absolutely outstanding. pic.twitter.com/wOBJjx4aXK
— AyrshireSchoolsFA (@AyrshireSFA) November 23, 2024
Tommy Wright, the former Kilmarnock manager who is now head coach of Northern Ireland Under-21s, noted Devenny’s talent from the start and believes getting that experience of senior football in Scotland from a young age has served him well.
“As soon as we went into Kilmarnock, we brought him up to train with the first team,” Wright tells The Athletic. “From the first week, we liked him. He responded well to everything.
“It’s easy to pick out his qualities when we first went into Kilmarnock. But I just look at his progression. The one thing I can see is the progression he’s made in almost every camp we went away on (with the under-21s) — he got better and better. You could see his inner confidence. He became one of the main players for us.”
That confidence does not extend to arrogance, though. Devenny’s attitude has drawn praise from those who have worked with him; he is a good listener who applies instructions well. That led him to captain Palace Under-21s frequently, and also partly explains why he was entrusted by manager Oliver Glasner to start — he was preferred over the much more experienced Jeffrey Schlupp — at home against Fulham in the final game before the November international break and then away to Villa when the club campaign resumed.
“His feet are on the ground,” Wright says. “He knows he has to work hard so you wouldn’t worry that he would be changed at all (by his recent rise to prominence). He’s getting really good press at the moment, which he deserves, but that won’t change him. He does his talking on the pitch, but will speak up in the dressing room if he has to. He is well grounded and I think he’s got a real inner belief.”
He has demonstrated versatility, too. Although not the most capable defender, he is strong and committed in the tackle and has operated as a No 6, a No 8 and a No 10 for club and country. There are some similarities to the Scottish-born former Palace midfielder James McArthur, with his all-energy, tenacious style.
Glasner used Devenny as a central midfielder when shorn of alternatives earlier this month — he demonstrated his confidence from dead-ball situations in that 2-0 loss to Fulham — but he is better suited to the No 10 role. He boasts fine balance, thrives in attacking situations, pushing forward wherever the opportunity presents itself, and is an assured passer of the ball.
His run from his own penalty area to reach Ismaila Sarr’s cross, after it was missed by striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, at the other end of the pitch culminated in a composed finish with his weaker right foot on Saturday. That was a snapshot of both his style and his determination to succeed.
“We thought he would become a box-to-box midfielder with the ability he has on the ball and that unbelievable left foot,” Wright adds. “We felt he could chip in with goals, too, but he’s played as a No 6 for me, and a No 8. He’s a very accomplished midfielder.
“He’s comfortable on the ball, he can keep it in tight situations and has an unbelievable delivery at set plays.”
Devenny travelled to the United States on tour with Palace’s first team in pre-season and there was always a feeling he was one of the most advanced of the young talents in the club’s youth setup — perhaps given an advantage not only by being one of the older players in the group but by that formative experience in the men’s game. He has been the most consistent performer in the under-21s this season.
Yet his senior debut might have been delayed had things turned out differently in the summer, when Palace fielded enquiries about signing him on loan. Yet he preferred to stay, an attitude with which his parent club took no issue. Indeed, with Palace facing an injury crisis in midfield earlier this month, Glasner was happy to have him around and paired him with Marc Guehi, moving up from centre-back, as a makeshift solution against Fulham.
“He was with us in pre-season and he showed he is an unbelievable footballer,” said Glasner, after Devenny’s goal helped earn a point at Villa. “He is very technical and he can play in four different positions in the system. In the last game, he played deeper as a No 6, but we can use him as a No 10 because he understands the game, he finds the space and he can score goals.
“We were very confident starting him. If a player shows it in training, then he gets a chance — it’s (first-team selection) never a gift because he’s from our academy. He deserves it. A player with his quality, who works so hard, will get the rewards. But he is still at the beginning, so we will keep him a little bit back, so he can develop in the right way.”
Devenny is not a product of Palace’s academy in the traditional sense having only signed for them shortly before turning 20 but, instead, an example of their strategy of making opportunistic additions of young talent, with one eye on the future. He arrived having already played almost 100 games of senior football for Airdrie.
“It’s totally different to academy football in England, and it’s given him a better grounding, helping him improve and reach the standards he’s done,” Wright adds. “He’s played academy football with Palace and done extremely well there so he knows where he wants to be. From my time at Kilmarnock, it was obvious that, if he got the opportunities, he would do very well.
“There’s a tendency at times for young players to maybe stay too long in under-age football. They need to go out and play competitive football, it gives them a totally different outlook and shows them the levels they have to reach.”
Devenny has already exceeded expectations in his two senior appearances for Palace so far, but even if he does not progress to become a regular in the side this season — and there is a good chance England international Eberechi Eze will return from injury at home against Newcastle on Saturday — their investment in his talent is already paying off.
Nobody will be getting carried away. The last few weeks have been the start of his journey.
But the promise is obvious.
(Top photo: Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)
