Karamoko Dembele explains decision to sign for Brest after Celtic departure

By David Walton

July 5, 2022

Karamoko Dembele has explained his decision to sign for Ligue 1 side Brest after his Celtic departure this summer.

The French club confirmed the signing of the exciting young talent this morning in a big switch for the winger. It comes after Karamoko spent his youth days in the Celtic academy system before working his way up to first-team contention.

Unfortunately, injuries plagued him just when it looked as though first-team opportunities were beckoning. The most recent being an ankle injury that rocked the player’s progress at the start of last season.

However, despite Ange Postecoglou’s willingness to give youth an opportunity, Karamoko has instead decided to swap Parkhead for France.

Speaking via the official Brest website, the winger said: “I came to Brest because I saw that the project presented by Greg Lorenzi was good. It’s something that suits me and I think I can have some playing time here. It was a great opportunity that presented itself to me and it interested me.

“I’m very explosive, I like to have fun and give it to the fans and of course I like to score and win.”

Karamoko Dembele makes big decision after Celtic departure

This is a huge decision on the part of Karamoko. A massive career switch in which only time will tell us whether he’s ready for it or not.

It’s certainly a massive leap to jump straight over to Ligue 1 without any real sustained first-team run at Celtic Park. However, you can’t knock the belief he clearly has in himself.

Celtic supporters are undoubtedly going to be frustrated with this one. There’s nothing more infuriating at times than a young prodigy decided to up and leave after years of development being put into him by the Hoops. But the truth is it’s a move Karamoko is perfectly entitled to make.

There was never going to be any guarantees that he got first-team minutes this season either. Look at the competition Celtic currently have down both flanks. It’s difficult to see where the opportunity was going to come from.

It would’ve been interesting to know how differently things may have gone had he not picked up his ankle injury. If things had transpired a touch differently, perhaps we could’ve been looking at a Celtic first-team winger on a long-term contract.

But he’s made his decision and it’s one that needs to be respected. Brest finished 11th in Ligue 1 last term, so he’s hardly joining relegation cannon-fodder. All the best to him in what will undoubtedly be an exciting next phase in his career.

In other news, Confirmed: Karamoko Dembele signs for new club after leaving Celtic