Before debuting for the developmental side this week, many Celtic fans would have already seen some of the videos floating around on the internet of Karmamoko Dembele and the skill he possesses.
For the wider footballing world who have been clamoring over themselves to comment on the 13-year-old, it’s their first look at a player Celtic hope will be around for many years yet.
However, since taking to the field for the last ten minutes among guys 4,5 and even 6 years his senior, the hysteria and hype around the bhoy has been over the top.
The headlines and social media have blown up discussing this kids potential, we’ve had Ladbrokes even being forced into an apology after allowing bets on the young footballers potential – the bookie admitting it was the wrong thing to do.
Like we’ve seen many times, expectations on a player so young can ultimately lead to failure. While Karamoko looks the part so early on gives no guarantee he will be a star of the future and to gush over the young talent so early is premature and potentially damaging.
Just ask Freddy Adu, remember him. Just ask John Fleck, Mark Burchill, Stephen Crainey, Islam Feruz – the list goes on and on.
It’s important for Celtic to strike the balance between nurturing his talent in the correct way and sheltering him from the disruptive side of football like we’ve seen this week.
The good news is, the headlines will fade into the background and he should be able to get on with progressing and hopefully we’ll see him in the first team at some stage in the future.
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