15-year-old Karamoko Dembele joins Scottish Celtic

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The 15-year-old football player Karamoko Dembele received a big Christmas gift from his club Scottish Premiership's five-season champions Celtic FC when he was promoted from the youth team to the first squad. He is expected to remain at Paradise until at least 2021.

As the youngest member of the "Dembele Family" -- the others are Ousmane Dembele of Barcelona, Mousa Dembele of Tottenham Hotspur and Moussa Dembele of Lyon -- Karamoko joined Celtics at the age of 10 in 2013, and made his club debut in October 2016, where he substituted in an Under-20 match against the Hearts, competing with players much older than him.

Dembele's mature performance in that match immediately made him a hot topic on social media at that time. People predicted that he may be the next generation's superstar as he has the same left-foot ability as Lionel Messi has.

Karamoko Dembele posts his jersey after joining Celtic FC, December 25, 2018. /Screenshot from @karamoko Instagram

Although given the chance to represent Scotland, England and the Ivory Coast at the international level, Dembele has just played for Scotland U-16 and England U-15 in the past two years. His most notable match was the one he helped Scotland win over England in July 2017.

When accepting the interview with Celtic official media on Monday, the youngster said, “It means a lot to me to start my professional career at Celtic. I came here at a young age, and, after all the stuff me and family have been through together, it'll be good to make them proud."

Considering himself creative and keen on the pitch, Dembele stressed, "Getting attention at a young age has been hard, but I've obviously had my family to help me through that. You need to be strong mentally, you need to stay grounded, and you just need to get on with everything that you do on a daily basis.

The pint-sized Karamoko Dembele of Scotland U-16 national football team in training at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, October 30, 2016 /VCG Photo

"My brother Siriki, who plays for Peterborough United, first taught me how to play football. I wasn't always interested in football, but he brought me in and he helped me. He helps me in everything I do. If I have a bad game, he'll talk to me and he'll say, ‘Don't be down, keep your morale high',” Dembele said, thanking his brother.

"My goal is to play for the first team,” he added. “As soon as I can, I'm going to try to get into the first team, 100 per cent. In the Reserves, every training session, every game – it's all to prove myself to the manager that I can play in the first team."

(With input from Celtic FC official website)