Manchester United loanee Reece Devine makes first start since September
Manchester United loanee Reece Devine made his first St Johnstone start since September, in last night’s 2-0 defeat against Rangers.
The 19-year-old played the full 90 minutes against Giovanni van Bronckhort’s side, who currently sit top of the Scottish Premiership.
It was the teenager’s first start for his loan side since September, which came against the reigning SPL champions.
Devine’s season-long-loan at St Johnstone began with back-to-back starts, including a Europa League qualifier against Turkish giants Galatasaray.
However, since August, the left-back has only started two matches for the side that currently sit bottom of the Scottish top-flight, both of which came against the Ibrox outfit.
In the clash against the Europa League side, Devine had 53 touches, the third most for Callum Davidson’s side, and completed one dribble.
Defensively, the man, who was signed by United from Manchester City academy in the summer of 2018, made one tackle, three interceptions and one clearance (WhoScored).
Devine will be hoping his performance against Rangers was good enough to retain his place in Davidson’s starting line-up, for Saturday’s trip to Motherwell.
Although Devine would have liked to have seen more action at McDiarmid Park, his prospects of getting more game time at Manchester United, if he cut his loan spell short, wouldn’t increase.
Despite having 29 appearances for United’s under-23s side, 18-year-old Alvaro Fernandez is the man in control of the left-back spot in Neil Wood’s side.
The attack-minded Spaniard has impressed since being snapped up from Real Madrid’s academy. The Spanish under-19 international has become a regular fixture in United’s first team training sessions at Carrington.
Staying patient and grasping any opportunity that comes, could see Devine nail down a starting position at St Johnstone.
His first loan move was always going to be testing, but his experience and development will be being aided by the constant exposure of being within a senior first team environment.
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