Karamoko Dembele: Why the future seems bright for the Celtic prospect

There have always been lists of young players who seem to have the potential to play football at an elite level, some come to fruition, some fail to reach their potential and some are still yet to be decided.

If you haven’t heard of Karamoko Dembele, you will soon.

At 13 years old he made his debut for Celtics U20 team, coming on for 16-year-old Jack Aitchison, who at the end of last year, ironically became the Celtic’s youngest ever player to play in a senior game.

After watching 10 minutes’ worth of YouTube clips I came away thinking okay he’s good, he is really good.

Can use either foot, his his finishing still needs work.

Of course a 10-minute video cannot show the whole picture and certainly hasn’t included all the times he has been tackled or his misplaced passes but you cannot deny he is head and shoulders above players his age.

Another factor that could be amplifying his talents are the team he plays for, Celtic are a great team in the Scottish league but would Dembele receive the same amount of praise if he played for La Masia and for a 13-year-old to get into the U20’s team, says a lot about his talent but also speaks volumes to the lack of talent in the Celtic U20 team and other Scottish U20 teams around them.

But on the other hand Dembele only played the final 10 minutes and was only on the bench as most of the regulars were called up to represent Scotland Under 19s.

Playing against the u20 will be very hard especially physically (even though he overpowers almost all his age with ease) but technically the difference won’t be as big.

Not only a player who can dribble and beat his man with skill or speed but Karamoko has great vision and an exceptional range of passing to go with it.

Of course tipped for greatness and coming in a long line of Dembele’s who he’s not related to (like the Cisse’s, Diarra’s and Sissoko’s)

Of course talent isn’t the only factor that turns a special young player into a world class footballer, but hopefully he can keep his head down and not make the mistake so many youngsters make and chase money early on in their careers.

At 16 he will sign his scholarship, and on his 17th birthday he will be eligible to sign his first professional deal which, naturally, Celtic hope will be at Celtic Park.

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