Former Celtic player turned pundit, Frank McAvennie has claimed Celtic might just sell their youngster Karamoko Dembele before the start of next season.
Speaking to Football Insider, the former Celtic and West Ham star believes you rarely see these highly tipped youngsters coming through and converting to a first team player.
There’s only one year left on the player’s Celtic deal and the club could look to cash in on Karamoko if the price is right according to Frank:
“He’s not getting a game at Celtic. He’s not doing it. For me, he should be pushing for the first team now
“He’s been there long enough. We’ve seen it before at Celtic, someone comes in who is supposedly the best thing since sliced bread.
“It’s rare those players actually end up in the team. I hope that doesn’t happen with Dembele, the kid has loads of talent.
“When he first broke onto the scene, he was going by players like they weren’t there.
“Now I watch and he passes it. I’m thinking ‘what’s happened here?’.
“Has it been coached out of him? When you see a player with his talent going backwards you think ‘woah’.
“If he does go, I wish him all the best. But he has all the talent so why is he not in the team?”
Everyone has had their theories why Karamoko hasn’t made more in-roads into the first team. Some are blaming Neil Lennon for not giving youth a chance, especially when we were struggling down that right hand side last season when James Forrest was out.
Others believe the player’s attitude has played a part in limited opportunities. Celts Are Here understands the winger turned down a move to the Scottish lower leagues to get some game time and chose to stay at Celtic and train.
When you look at a player like Luca Connell who grabbed his opportunity to head to Queens Park last term and the good it did him, it does raise the question why would Dembele turn his nose up at game time.
Ultimately, if Karamoko sees his future elsewhere, selling him this summer might be the best idea. Could a new coach breathe new life into the player? That’s the big question.
