Karamoko Dembele, The Celtic Wonderkid Who Played For the U20s At 13, Now Has A New Club

Karamoko Dembele, the Celtic youngster who played for the U20s at the age of 13, has sealed a move to Ligue 1 outfit Brest.

Dembele had been tipped for superstardom ever since 2016, when he turned out for the U20s despite being seven years below the age category.

The winger was nowhere near the size of his adult teammates and images of him coming off the bench quickly went viral on social media.

In the years that followed, everyone kept a keen eye on Dembele who was compared to Lionel Messi thanks to his size and ability on the ball.

Karamoko Dembele, the 13-year-old who made his Celtic U20 debut last night 👀👏🏼
(📷 via @Record_Sport) pic.twitter.com/Ih4pOiD2h0

— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 4, 2016

Few manage to live up to those expectations and Dembele sadly found opportunities tough to come by at senior level.

He was fast tracked through the Celtic system and made his debut in May 2019 against Hearts.

In the meantime, he turned out for Scotland and England at youth level.

Injuries did not help and Dembele departs Celtic Park with just 10 first-team appearances and one goal.

He does have a Scottish Premiership medal to his name after Ange Postecoglou's side reclaimed the title from bitter rivals Rangers last season.

Now 19, Dembele is ready to take the next step in his career. He bid farewell to Celtic on Instagram and said: "After 13 years at Celtic my time at the club has come to an end. I'd like to thank the fans and the people that helped me through this journey.

"Although not everything went according to plan...the challenges | faced over the past 2 years was not foreseen however with faith and the support of my family I knew it would come to pass. Greater things are come!"

Brest announced their new number 18 on Tuesday and Dembele spoke fondly of sporting director Gregory Lorenzi.

"I came to Brest because I saw that the project presented by Greg Lorenzi was good," he told the club's official website. "It’s something that suits me and I think I can have some playing time here. It was a great opportunity that presented itself to me and it interested me.

🆕1⃣8⃣#TeamPirates 🏴‍☠️ pic.twitter.com/mKFmhrcUG6

— Stade Brestois 29 (@SB29) July 5, 2022

"I'm very explosive, I like to have fun and give it to the fans and of course I like to score and win."

Brest finished 11th in Ligue 1 last campaign, their highest-placed finish in the French top-flight.