Karamoko Dembele!!

How do we know he wasn't ready? He never got a chance to prove it, he's played a total of 82 mins for us. That is nowhwere near enough to judge a player on and physique doesn't matter if he's good enough, plenty small players have done brilliant.

Don't blame him for not signing an extension when he doesn't get any game time.

 

I'm all for giving the young players a chance; one of the biggest proponents of that but in my humble opinion Karamoko is nowhere near ready for the rough and tumble of the SPFL. He's literally chest/stomach high on some opponents.

Plenty small players have done well but how many of them cutting their teeth in a league as physical as ours?

Shaun Maloney is the last that springs to mind for me and that was 20 years ago.

Our youth set-up needs a complete revamp with genuine pathways to the first team but I think there are other players who have bigger grievances for lack of game-time/stagnation than Karamoko.

Welsh, Connell, Henderson all should be further down their development either with more first-team game time or good loans preparing them for it.

 

For me it's the only way to toughen to them up, from the few times we've seen him he bounced off tackles no problem at all, Frimpong isn't much taller and he gets halved every game yet will bounce up. A good test of character.

I mean where else will he get game time that's less physical and not abroad? EPL is the only one, every other lower league is just as or rougher than the SPFL. I'd rather find out if he can handle himself in the league than sit on the bench or reserves wasting away like the rest of the youths.

 

He got a few rough ones in the home game v Hearts but it's worth remembering they were from a 16 year old Hickey that was also built like a fiver.

Frimpong is pretty strong for his height though, League Cup Final 2019 he easily held off Morelos who bullies much bigger CBs in the League.

I think we should have been sending Karamoko out on loan but at his age it's likely he wouldn't want to be away from home and unfortunately all the lower Scottish Leagues are even tougher.

For me it's just one that hasn't worked out and he's not prepared to wait it out longer (which is his right)

 

Seen this coming from the second he burst onto the scene. Cheerio

 

* sake. All of our good young prospects are * leaving.

We are a * shambles

 

Tell that to Lennon, who seems to believe he is bigger than the club these days and in turn is driving young talent like Dembele and Frimpong away.

 

Lennon is solely to blame for this, no one else

 

Don't see him cutting it anywhere else either anyway, he looks about 8 stone and is about 5ft 3. Can have all the skill you want but if you cannot run away from anybody or control a ball without taking a bump you're not going to make any mark.

People talking about him mentioning Frimpong and Maloney as other examples of wee guys but even they are much bigger than him.

I think even Islam Feruz is bigger than him and he also had the same problem of being midget.

 

He’d do well in portugal or holland

 

Now this is the thread for the Feruz comparison I believe!.

 

Lorenzo insigne, Sebastian giovinco come to mind as magic midgets

Both of them are smaller than dembele

 

Been plenty games he could of been involved in though, like Europa league games when it was clear we were already out and then use him as a sub to feed him in and see how he stands up to physical challenges.

And Frimpong has worked on his strength, nothing saying that Dembele wouldn't either, he actually looks like he's filled out a bit as well since that Hearts game. Still think we could of done far more to keep him and Harper here, our 2 best young attackers from the development squad.

 

Nothing like Feruz, Feruz didn't sign a professional contract at 16, Karamoko did, the difference is Feruz was a greedy * at 16 & headed for Chelsea, whereas Karamoko committed himself to Celtic unlike Feruz by signing a professional contract, he's been let down badly by the management team who failed to give him a proper opportunity.

 

I think the reason he's been overlooked this season is that he'd already expressed a desire to move on, therefore it's reasonable that we would give those opportunities to guys staying eg. Henderson on the right v Lille

I think the hype has went to his head. The way he was going in between the Scottish and English youth squads was bizarre. I think he's seen the Instagram life of EPL youngsters he was playing with on £20k a week and thought I'll have some of that.

 

Is Mark Wilson his agent/spokesperson, I don't think there's official confirmation about this. I read somewhere else earlier that his contract actually runs to 2022, NL said today that Frimpong was the only one leaving right now.

 

Aye just now,

Dembele will sign a pre contract somewhere

 

Was always gonna happen just wish we had given him more game time so we could make an actual judgement

 

I’d be offski as well if I was him

 

He's tiny and genuinely looks like a tiny wean on the pitch..

I give a * about loads happening at the club, including our academy so it's a bit contradictory this but I honestly couldn't give a * about him..