In today’s day and age, with so many rumours floating around, it is difficult to distinguish between the true and the false. Many Celtic fans will have been pleasantly surprised at some recent contract news regarding a player with great potential.
Rumours were that Karamoko Dembele’s contract was set to run out this summer and the player was set to leave after failing to break into the first-team picture. But some questions were raised when he made a late appearance against Aberdeen recently and then was on the bench again for the St. Johnstone match.
Dembele came on as a substitute once again and while he wasn’t involved for a long time, he had some nice touches and overall play and of course, netted his first senior Celtic goal with a right-foot shot across goal from a narrow angle.
That raises the question – could it be his last goal for the club or is there still a chance for it to be the first of many?
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Dembele’s Celtic contract is not running out this summer
Back in 2018 when Dembele signed his contract, the club’s official statement stated of it running till ‘at least 2021’, which led to the belief that it was running out this summer. After the St. Johnstone match, interim manager John Kennedy, as reported by the Daily Record, cleared things up and confirmed that the player’s current contract has another year to go:
"“There is a lot of speculation in terms of Karamoko being out of contract in the summer.“I don’t know where that that has come from because he has another year left.”"
It feels like it might be that the club had the option to extend the deal by another year. With more time left on his contract, a goal to his name and a new manager set to come in, Dembele can end up being a big part of this team come next season. There is undoubted potential there, it is about whether he can take the step into the first-team and fulfil it.
Kennedy also spoke of Dembele’s potential. As reported by the Daily Record, the interim manager said:
"“Karamoko has been spoken about as the next superstar, but people develop physically at different rates.“He is probably one who still has a bit of development, but is a terrific talent – we know that.“It’s not a token gesture, he has done well in training recently.”"
Some will question whether he has developed enough over the last year and whether he is physical enough for the Scottish game. Let’s not forget that in terms of his size at just 18, he stands slightly taller than Jimmy Johnstone!
Of course, this is not a direct comparison between the two but just that Dembele deserves a run in the first-team before people come to conclusions about him.