Celtic interim boss John Kennedy has clarified the situation surrounding Karamoko Dembele' s contract, following the exciting winger's impressive cameo display against St. Johnstone last night.
The 18-year-old came off the bench in the second-half of the 4-0 victory as a replacement for James Forrest and scored the final goal of the evening - his first senior competitive strike for the Hoops.
Dembele has been earmarked as a potential star by the Celtic hierarchy for some time now after standing out at various different age levels in the youth team, but his long-term future in Glasgow has seemed uncertain for a while now.
A Celtic statement in December 2018 said Dembele's first professional deal would see him remain at the club until "at least 2021", but Kennedy has given fans fresh hopes that their attacking prodigy was tied up until the summer of 2022 and could yet have a role to play next season.
After the victory, Kennedy said: “There is a lot of speculation in terms of Karamoko being out of contract in the summer.
“I don’t know where that that has come from because he has another year left.
“In terms of him, again a young player and every young player has a different pathway.
“Karamoko has been spoken about as the next superstar, but people develop physically at different rates.
“He is probably one who still has a bit of development, but is a terrific talent — we know that.
“It’s not a token gesture [his substitute appearance], he has done well in training recently.”
Whether he has a year left at Parkhead or longer, it seems pretty certain that Dembele is destined for big things in the not too distant future.
