Karamoko Dembele is five years ahead of Callum McGregor.
Celtic’s own Player of the Year winner had to wait until he was 21 for a first team debut when Ronny Deila selected him to play against KR Reyjkavik where he popped up with the winning goal.
Dembele didn’t score against Hearts on Sunday but his 45 minute display justified the hype that has surrounded him over the last four years.
When McGregor was working his way through the ranks at Celtic Islam Feruz was the next big thing but as one player prepares for a cup final at the weekend the other one looks like having a collection of cars rather than medals with his career over before it starts.
Feruz opted for Chelsea when he turned 16 with Dembele opting to follow the route created by McGregor, Kieran Tierney and James Forrest rather than cash in on an amazing pay day.
Looking at Celtic’s newest debutant McGregor told the Daily Record:
If Karamoko was to get on at the weekend it would be an amazing achievement.
Could he handle it? He certainly seems like nothing fazes him. As soon as he came into first-team training he looked comfortable and isn’t overawed by the players which you might expect from young kids.
At such a young age, to come on and play with the maturity he did against Hearts was great. You can see his football brain working before the ball even comes to him.
It’s a massive talent to have at such a young age. He’s been brilliant and we’ve got a good group and the lads have helped him settle in.
A lot of us have made that step so we know how it feels and it’s important when the young ones come in that we make them feel comfortable.
The management of the club might look at the situation with Islam Feruz and learn from how they handled that but Karamoko is undoubtedly a top talent and ultimately people will be looking and talking about him. But you just want to play football at that age and he’ll get a lot more game time at Celtic at an earlier age which will help him develop.
You could see Karamoko’s talent at the weekend. At 16 to come on and play like that shows you’re a top talent and he’s got the mentality to handle everything.
But it’s important we manage him properly and everyone doesn’t get carried away and expect him to be in the team every week.
He’s still a young kid and he has to learn and grow and it’s our job as senior players and a club to look after him, mentor him to get the best out of him.
With injury doubts over a number of players Dembele could win a place on the bench for Saturday’s Scottish Cup Final against Hearts at Hampden.
