Former Celtic prospect claims he felt ‘targeted’ after stepping up to first team
Former Celtic wonderkid Karamoko Dembele has opened up on his difficult experience at Parkhead, claiming he felt targeted after stepping up to the first team.
Dembele was once among the most talked-about young footballers in the world, with clips of his performances in Celtic’s academy attracting millions of views and interest from some of Europe’s biggest clubs. He rejected opportunities elsewhere to pursue his dream of playing in front of 60,000 supporters at Celtic Park, but his first-team career never took off.
Speaking to The Athletic, Dembele claimed he felt unwelcome after beginning to train regularly with the senior squad.
He said: “I was being targeted by some. In a tackle, some would leave a bit more on it. It might have been to toughen me up but if I reacted, then I had a bad attitude.
“So I can’t react, but if I play football a certain way, I was having myself (being cocky), and probably going to get injured. I couldn’t win.
“Some people thought I should be more humble, but I’m not taking s–t just because I’m [in the first team]. ‘It’s not my fault I’m up here’. I didn’t conform to that.”
Dembele also discussed whether race influenced how his confidence was perceived at Celtic.
He continued: “I don’t like using the race thing, but because I was Black and confident, maybe they did think I was having myself. But I was just having myself at what I was good at. If I was myself, I was probably going to get injured. I was thinking, ‘I can’t win here’.
“The foreign players [at Celtic] didn’t think anything of how I was. They all have their own personality and character. It was always more the Scottish players. I always think if I had been somewhere else, I would have been treated and cared for a lot more.”
Dembele separately revealed that he suffered racist abuse while representing Scotland at youth international level.
His remarkable rise at Celtic began when he was fast-tracked into the club’s Development squad at just 13.
He recalled: “I don’t know why that happened, it wasn’t planned. It was really random. I remember thinking, ‘These lot are huge’, as I was about 5ft 2in. The players on the bench were telling me to be careful — ‘Don’t do any crazy stuff. Keep it simple and don’t do too much’.”
Despite attracting major interest elsewhere, Dembele remained committed to making it at Celtic and revealed he had spoken to Manchester City about a potential move.
He said: “I actually spoke to Man City. My brother did say, ‘You’ll be with better players, and you’ll be better for it’. But I was never going to go, as the plan was to play for Celtic in front of 60,000. I put my faith in it, but it never happened.”
Dembele also recalled confronting then-manager Neil Lennon following a defeat to Kilmarnock in 2020 after believing his performances in training merited an opportunity.
He said: “I went to his office and said to him that I should have played, as I thought I was the best in training. I think he was shocked. He didn’t react well to that. He said, ‘You’re way off it, you’re nowhere near it’.
“It motivated me. I was trying more, being dirtier and more aggressive. I guess it was the reaction he wanted, but results weren’t going his way so, looking back, I see why he wasn’t going to put in a 16-year-old.”
Now with QPR, Dembele has been sidelined since January after suffering an ACL tear.
