A Second String To His Bow

Karamoko Dembele has now added regular reserve football to his CV and the youngster doesn’t want to stop there

FEW players have generated as much attention at the onset of their footballing career as Karamoko Dembele, and the talented young winger is hoping to showcase his talents in front of the Celtic supporters in the very near future.

At just 16-years-old, Dembele’s rise through the ranks of the Celtic Academy system has been remarkable. He signed his first professional contract two months before his 16th birthday, and having made an impact in Tommy McIntyre’s reserve side, he is now hoping to continue on his path to Paradise as he pursues his dream of one day playing in the Hoops first team.

How’s the season been so far?

I was playing with the 17-year-olds last season and then, in February, I moved up to the reserve football squad full-time. It was hard to adapt because I was coming into a different environment. After a couple of games, I felt I was settling in and I was able to really focus on trying to impose myself in games and do my best. The physicality wasn’t the biggest challenge. Coming up, I knew I would need to work hard on the physical side of things because there’s always first-team boys playing in the reserve sides. The main challenge was more social, but the boys in the team helped with that as well and made me feel comfortable. Armstrong Oko-Flex and I are close. I’ve known him for a couple of years now, so that helped when I moved into the team.

What was your first game like with the reserves?

It was in the Glasgow Cup against Partick Thistle and we won 6-0. I was really happy to have scored. I cut inside and it took a deflection, but I’ll still take it. That was just before I came up, so having that game go so well left me really looking forward to coming up to the reserves full-time.