The Prospects: Dean Benamar, Crystal Palace

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The Athletic watched that game to take a look at Benamar in the latest of our Prospects series, looking at rising young talent, to see why Palace fans have such high hopes for the England under-18 international. Date of birth: May 31, 2008 (17) Benamar. Ice-cold from the spot.#CPFC | #PLCup pic.twitter.com/oMHiHCwKkG — Crystal Palace F.C. Academy (@CPFCAcademy) April 23, 2026 Born in Westminster, London, to an Algerian father and Latvian mother, Benamar joined the Palace academy as an under-14 and progressed through to the under-15s side, who won the under-15 National Floodlit Cup in 2022-23 against Stoke City, as well as the regional final against Arsenal. He signed a scholarship deal in July 2024 and his performances saw him earn a call-up to the England Under-17s for the first time in February 2025. He made his debut as a substitute against the Netherlands in a 3-2 win. He followed this up by opening the scoring directly from a corner against the Netherlands on his first start three days later, helping England to an emphatic 4-0 victory. That contributed to him securing a place in England’s squad for the European Under-17 Championship in Albania that summer, where they exited at the group stage. In July 2025, he signed his first professional contract with Palace and made his senior debut for the club in a 2-2 Conference League draw with Finnish club KuPS in December. This season, he has been an unused substitute for Oliver Glasner’s side four times in the Premier League, but is yet to make his top-flight debut. The first thing that stands out about Benamar is his physical stature for a player so young and still developing. He is built powerfully and uses that power well. In the opening minutes of the Youth Cup semi-final, playing as a left wing-back, he popped up in a central attacking position and broke through two United challenges using his strength. Palace struggled to break out from their defensive structure, but when they did, Benamar was positive in possession and drove forward with the ball. He put in two very dangerous crosses that presented Palace with goalscoring opportunities after attacking his opposite full-back, creating space with a trick or step-over, before putting in a backpost cross. The flip side of that was defensively, as he was twice beaten too easily by United’s Nathaniel-Junior Brown when isolated. On both occasions, he was just a little too keen and pressed too closely, allowing Brown to push the ball past him on the outside and put in a couple of dangerous crosses that should have been converted. Thankfully for Benamar and Palace, they were not. Benamar learnt from those early moments. After those two warnings, he stood off a little more, forcing Brown to make the first move. Invariably, he went back inside and into traffic. At times, it seemed as if Benamar was playing more as a midfielder, as he pushed forward along with right wing-back Joel Drakes-Thomas on the opposite flank when they had the opportunity. He had one shooting opportunity in the first half with a volley from the edge of the box from a half-cleared free kick, but he fired wide. He was strong in the air and took corners with his left foot, but he did have trouble against pacy players when isolated. He was booked in the second half for a cynical shirt tug on Yuel Helafu when the United full-back was able to beat him near the halfway line. From the subsequent free kick, United cut through the sleeping Palace defence to score through the 15-year-old forward JJ Gabriel. Palace equalised almost immediately and both sides had good chances to score the winner. One dropped to Benamar in added time after a goalkeeping mistake — he couldn’t take it, but it demonstrated his mileage in the game that he was so advanced to be in that shooting position. United booked their place in the final thanks to Chido Obi’s late, late winner, to disappoint Palace and Benamar, who again teed up a chance for Palace with a decent cross into the box before that Obi goal. But they had their revenge in the under-18s Premier League Cup final. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms