Could Sunderland winger be in line for recall to Belgium team?

Sunderland's Lamine Kone celebrates scoring his side's first goal of the game with Sunderland's Jermain Defoe (right) and Adnan Januzaj (left) during the Premier League match at Selhurst Park.

Januzaj has struggled to shine on a consistent basis for Sunderland since arriving on a season-long loan deal.

But he provided two assists for Jermain Defoe in the demolition of Crystal Palace - and his much-improved performance caught the eye of his national boss.

Januzaj hasn’t played for Belgium since November 2014 and is yet to be called up since Martinez took charge.

But speaking on Sky Sports’ Goals on Sunday, Martinez said: “We can all see the natural talent that he has.

“You don’t get too many left footed creative footballers like that. He is so good for the balance of your side.

“In this game, he was the player who had that little freedom behind Jermain Defoe, he was the first one to get on the ball and he has that clinical pass.

“He runs off people, his talent is quite outstanding, but now he is in that moment of his career where he needs to play games.

“Earlier on in the season it was difficult to find that consistency.

“Now that he has played three or four full games, you can see that he is starting to make a massive impact.”

Januzaj has made 19 appearances for Sunderland this season, scoring just one goal in the EFL Cup win over Shrewsbury.

But he linked up well with Defoe at Selhurst Park, twice playing the club’s top scorer in for goals before half-time.

“He is that sort of player that when he gets on the ball, something will happen,” added Martinez.

“He is a gifted footballer and for the national team he is someone that we have high hopes for, because we haven’t got a left-footed footballer on the right-hand side and the way we want to play, he could be a really important player for us.”