Highlights

  • Karamoko Dembele, the once highly-touted wonder kid, hasn't quite lived up to the massive expectations placed upon him after making his senior debut for Celtic.
  • Dembele's career has been hindered by injuries, limiting his playing time and opportunities to make an impact.
  • A loan move to Blackpool in League One has provided Dembele with regular playing time, where he has shown promise with three goals and an assist in 11 appearances.

Do you remember the name: Karamoko Dembele? The wonder kid burst onto the football scene at a young age while at Celtic in Scotland.

At just 13, he played for the club's under-20 side. The tiny winger, who is the younger brother of Birmingham City's Siriki, was compared to Lionel Messi due to his stature and dribbling ability.

At the age of 13 in 2016, he played in Celtic under-20's 3-1 victory over Hearts. An almost comical image of the small lad coming on as a sub soon went viral.

He became a household name and represented both Scotland and England at youth level - although hasn't committed his international career to either nation. A few years later during the 2018/19 season at the age of 16, he made his senior debut under Neil Lennon and also collected a Scottish Premiership winners' medal.

That same year, he was named by French outlet L'Equipe as one of the six "outstanding young players set to revolutionise the game." They wrote Dembele has “extraordinary acceleration and elimination abilities.” They also stated that he “seems destined for a great career” and that he’s “vivid and agile”. He was named alongside Ansu Fati, Joelson Fernandes, Sebastiano Esposito, Mohamed Ihattaren and Karim Adeyemi. It's fair to say those six shouts weren't particularly successful, but huge things were expected of Dembele.

Things haven't exactly gone to plan for the youngster since his senior debut, though, and he hasn't skyrocketed to the top of football like many thought he would. Not yet, anyway.

Dembele's Celtic career was halted by injury

Despite showing plenty of promise, Dembele played just 10 times for Celtic's senior side and that was largely down to a serious ankle injury. His most active campaign came during the 2020/21 season when he played five times for the Hoops. He also scored his one and only goal for the club that year in a 4-0 win over St. Johnstone.

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As his contract expired in 2022, he decided to bring an end to his time at Celtic and left the club on a free transfer after nine years. He looked for a new challenge and joined Ligue 1 side, Stade Brest.

He hasn't exactly been a hit in Ligue 1

Dembele signed a four-year deal with the French club and spoke of his excitement 12 months ago. He was quoted by Goal as saying: "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 I like to score and win."

However, he certainly would have liked to play more than he did during the 2022-23 campaign. Dembele played 17 times in all competitions last season, including 15 in Ligue 1. However, he played very much a bit-part role - failing to start a single league match. In fact, many of those substitute appearances came in the final 10 minutes with his earliest substitution coming in the 66th minute.

His 15-minute cameo in the final game of the season against Rennes was his first appearance since February after being left out of the team for three months. In those 17 games, Dembele failed to score or register an assist. Brest finished a respectable 14th in the table.

He has three more years left on his contract at the French club and will be hoping for plenty more opportunities in the future. However, you wouldn't blame him for fearing that he may have made the wrong move when deciding to leave Celtic.

At 20, Dembele would have been hoping to be playing regular first-team football - whether that was at Celtic or at a European giant. Instead, he was picking up a handful of minutes each week in Ligue 1 if he's lucky. Fortunately, a loan spell away from the club was on the cards, and it has initially brought significantly more success for the youngster.

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Dembele joined Blackpool on loan this season

There's a reason Brest offered Dembele a four-year contract, and they will no doubt have plans for him in the future, but in the meantime, they've sent him on loan to Blackpool in League One for crucial playing time. The move offers him the chance at regular first-team football in a prominent role for the first time in his career and so far, he hasn't disappointed.

In the early stages of the season, Dembele has played 11 times for the Lancashire club, scoring three times and picking up an assist for his troubles. It's a promising start to his spell at the Tangerines and the move is already looking like a wise one for his development. Check out his goal in the FA Cup against Bromley below.

The talent is there for all to see and at just 20 years old, it's scary to think about how much he could still improve in the next few years. His time in England should do wonders for his career and he'll go back to Brest in the summer ready to make an impact for the Ligue 1 side. The forward might not have hit the heights that many expected him to, but there's still plenty of time for him to realise his potential and this temporary spell on the English seaside might be the perfect remedy for that.

Check out the table below to take a closer look at Karamoko Dembele's career so far and his statistics throughout spells at Celtic, Brest and now Blackpool.

Karamoko Dembele's Career So Far

Appearances

Goals

Celtic

10

1

Brest

18

0

Blackpool

11

3

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