Karamoko Dembélé finally set for first-team breakthrough

The 17-year-old winger looks to be set for a potential first-team breakthrough in the 2020-2021 campaign.

First reported by Celts are Here, Dembélé has been sighted joining the first-team squad in practices lately in training at Lennoxtown. While he had only made two appearances in the abbreviated 2020 campaign, this sighting could show Lennon’s growing admiration for the young winger, meaning potentially more playing time in the upcoming campaign.

Karamoko even took to social media after his training session, seemingly excited to join the first team:

While we previously speculated that he could be due for a loan spell in order to help develop his talents, this new development could prove he’s here to stay.

Having been with the club since 2014, he has represented both Scotland and England’s youth teams, as well as becoming the youngest player at age 13 to make an appearance for Celtic’s U-20 development team in 2016 against Hearts.

Last season he made his debut for the first-team against Hearts as well, earning much praise from manager Neil Lennon:

"“He is the type of player that you want at Celtic. He gets the crowd off their feet with his football intelligence. Obviously we need to keep a lid on it, but it’s great that the fans have seen the glimpse of the future. The kid is 16 and we just want to develop him in the right way. He has been training with the first team and I had no hesitation giving him 45 minutes.”"

Seen by many as a potential star in the making for the Hoops, even being named as one of six of Europe’s future football stars in 2019, he has the raw talent to succeed. Hopefully, with some tutelage under Lennon and the first-team players, as well as consistent play-time, he can continue to develop his talents to make an impact on the pitch in 2021.