Time for Celtic to make the Karamoko Dembele call we're all waiting on

By David Walton

May 5, 2021

Celtic and Karamoko Dembele have certainly had an uneasy time of it together since he signed his first professional contract.

Dembele has only made a grand total of six Celtic appearances within those three years, which added up to 92 minutes of action in total.

Reasons for this have been difficult to pinpoint. At first there had been reports of a problem with the youngster’s attitude [The Athletic]. This came after Neil Lennon had claimed that Dembele would be in and around the first team over the course of the current season [Scottish Sun].

Finally, it looked as though the England under-18 international was going to get the chance to show what he’s made of. But between then and reports of an attitude problem, Dembele had only been given one four-minute appearance against Hamilton on opening day. Since then? Another 11 at home to Hibs in January and 10 at Pittodrie earlier this month.

There had also been concerns over his contract situation. It seemed as though he was coming to the end of his three-year deal this summer. However, the Daily Record recently reported that he still has over a year remaining. This is backed up on his Transfermarkt profile page, which also claims his contract doesn’t expire until 2022.

If Celtic have Karamoko Dembele on the books next season; get him in now

With his contract situation seemingly cleared up and John Kennedy handing him a rare sub appearance against Aberdeen, Dembele should now be getting more minutes.

There is now absolutely nothing to play for this season, and we mean it this time. Losing to St Johnstone and Hibs in the final two games wouldn’t even make you more angry anymore. We had our chance after losing the league to win the Scottish Cup. We failed. A chance was then handed to us to end Rangers’ unbeaten league run – we failed that too. Now our season is firmly over, with these next two matches nothing more than meaningless chores that we have to get through.

So there’s now officially no need not to give the youngsters more opportunities. Chief among them simply has to be Dembele if he’s on the books for next season. We deserve the opportunity to see how his development has come along over the last two years in particular.

Celtic youngster Karamoko Dembele / (Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images)

Celtic fans need a better look at Dembele

Celtic fans haven’t been given a proper look at Dembele since his 45-minute debut appearance vs Hearts at Parkhead. That was all the way back in May 2019. Dembele is now 18, and is at the stage where he really needs to start getting some minutes under his belt.

With the campaign officially over for us and absolutely no joy left for us to play for, Dembele must be thrown in. It would give us a better chance to see whether he should be a bigger part of things next season. Especially considering we don’t have any back-up to James Forrest down the right as things stand.

We’ll see what Kennedy does when St Johnstone come to Parkhead on May 12th. All we can do is sit and pray that some genuine changes will be made.

In other news, Alberth Elis appears to reportedly be back on the market again.