KARAMOKO DEMBELE left Celtic in the summer after his Hoops contract expired. The winger had been at Celtic since he was a young boy, and was expected to be one of the stars of the future.
After the excitement surrounding Karamoko since he was 13, he never hit any sort of heights with Celtic.
The quick and tricky winger didn’t get the minutes he felt he deserved and was ultimately unhappy at the Hoops. He left in hope of some game time.
Karamoko has managed to rack up nine appearances this season, in one of Europe’s top 5 leagues. All coming from off the bench, Karamoko has played just 7% of the minutes available to him for Ligue 1 side Brest. He’s yet to start a match.
He’s only played more than 10 minutes three times, with most of his appearances short cameos.
On the face of it, he looks to be doing well. He’s been involved in all of the team’s match day squads this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist.
Still 19, he’s involved with the first team set up in a good league. He finds himself in a better position than he did with Celtic. As he continues to develop, he’ll be granted more game time and chances to shine. After initial excitement, it appears Karamoko’s rise could be a slow burn.
Unfortunately Karamoko appears to fall into the same category as so many promising youngsters before him and no doubt, still to come.
When will these kids learn that talent is only a part of the requirements needed to make it as a top level professional in a top level team. You need to have your feet firmly on the ground, not getting carried away with the garbage the unbelievably bad media write about you. Most of all they need the right attitude! Few do.
We read nonsense in the media daily about how Celtic “missed out” on this player and that! The fact is not everyone who shines as a kid makes it.
In fact I’m quite sure we all know and knew great young players who had trials or opportunities with big clubs but failed because they lacked focus. We see it in most real sports. In Canada we see it in hockey every year.
But I wish Dembele all the very best and hope he improves his attitude.
I agree that players peak/decline at various stages and early promise is no guarantee of future brilliance but I wonder where people get the idea that Karamoko’s attitude or application were the reason for his departure. Where’s the evidence? I don’t know one way or the other and don’t trust a word in Scottish sports press but it seems to be common “knowledge” that the boy only has himself to blame. Seems unfair to me especially as there were quite a few bizarre things going on at that time in our Club.