Pundit Darren Jackson has been full of praise for Karamoko Dembele recently and has compared the youngster to Chelsea’s Billy Gilmour.
Jackson was recently present on the latest episode of PLZ Soccer’s The Football Show and a discussion took place about Dembele and his future with the Celtic first-team. Jackson was full of praise for the 17-year-old Hoops starlet and compared him to Gilmour, who is a Scotland Under-21s international now and has already made 11 first-team appearances for Chelsea.
Dembele had recently scored in Celtic’s 3-1 win over Hibernian in a pre-season friendly.
When talking about Dembele, Jackson said: “I was lucky enough to work with him with Scotland Under-18s. The young kid is so far ahead of his time – thinking about the game, the way he plays the game, the way he understands the game. Do I see him playing an awful lot of games this year? No, I don’t.
Will Dembele get a chance in the Celtic first-team next season?
Yes, he'll play
I don't think so
“Because you’ve got [Tom] Rogic, you’ve got [Ryan] Christie and you’ve got [Mohamed] Elyounoussi in there – and I think that is where he’s got to play. But I would have no problem and I don’t think there’s any doubt that he can go in there and play. He’s like a Billy Gilmour – he’s ready. He thrives on the big occasion and Billy’s like that as well.”
Jackson claims to have worked with Dembele in the Scotland Under-18s circuit and has high praise for the youngster. While Jackson does feel that he won’t play much because of the depth Celtic have, he believes that Dembele ‘thrives on the big occasion’ and can do a job for the Hoops.
TIF Thoughts…
Following Dembele’s goal against Hibs in the recent friendly, Neil Lennon had talked about him in an interview. The Celtic boss said that they want Dembele to be ‘around’ the club’s first-team this season and that the time has arrived for him to be training with the senior side ‘all the time’.
Lennon revealed that he was ‘delighted’ with what he had seen from the youngster in the game against Hibs and he could get better if he keeps training with the first-team. That could be a clear sign of trust and considering how Dembele has already played thrice for the Hoops despite being 17 is a reflection of how Lennon could be aiming to develop him in the best possible manner. It will be intriguing to see the plan that Celtic have for Dembele.