Celtic boss Neil Lennon has told The Scotsman that the club have to be careful with teenager Karamoko Dembele.
The winger was touted as the next big thing in Scottish football when he was playing for Celtic’s Under-20’s at the age of just 13.
December 2018 saw Dembele sign his first professional contract at just 15, but two years on, he hasn’t made all that much progress.
Dembele has managed just four first-team appearances for Celtic, and appeared just once this season in a frustrating campaign.
A big decision now looms for Celtic, as the 17-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and could walk away from Parkhead.
In fact, with January on the horizon, Dembele could even sign a pre-contract agreement in a matter of weeks, with his Celtic future uncertain.
Now, Lennon has been asked how Dembele is progressing, and he offered two fairly non-committal words on that topic – ‘just steady’.
Lennon feels that Dembele needs to develop physically – he is just 5ft 6in tall – but he is still a ‘quality’ talent.
“Just steady,” said Lennon. “We just have to be careful with him and not throw him in too early. He may even develop physically. We just have to be patient, we know he is a quality player but physically he still has a bit of development to do to be part of the first team squad,” he added.
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