Out-of-contract Karamoko Dembele appears to be heading for the Celtic exit door after failing to stay as much as his early Parkhead potential.
The 19-year-old is essentially the most highly-touted participant to emerge from Scotland in years however has but to make his breakthrough into the Parkhead first-team.
The attacker has struggled for sport time this season after an harm hampered his pre-season preparation.
A six-month layoff adopted an ankle harm picked up towards Bristol Metropolis, and issues rapidly modified at Celtic Park in his absence.
The winger faces stiff competitors to make his declare for a beginning spot having tumbled down the pecking order with the arrival Jota, Daizen Maeda and Liel Abada within the final two switch home windows.
Skilled James Forrest can be going nowhere in a rush after the Scotland cap penned a brand new deal, and Mikey Johnston may also hope to make a case for a daily spot within the group in pre-season.
And that is earlier than any new additions arrive with Champions League soccer simply across the nook.
That has left Dembele restricted to only two first-team appearances this time period – totalling solely 20 minutes in his two cameos off the bench towards Dundee United and St Mirren in March.
Since then he has primarily made appearances for the colt group as he approaches the top of his deal.
It is a far cry from the potential that was promised as Dembele made his sensational breakthrough at Celtic.
He caught the creativeness of Scottish soccer as a 13-year-old when he performed the ultimate 9 minutes for the under-20 group – jinking round his older rivals.
A tug of warfare between Scotland and England youth set ups ensued as each associations seemed to win over the following large factor.
In December 2018, he penned his first skilled contract at 15 years outdated with Celtic and would make his first-team debut lower than a yr later.
To cap off his meteoric rise, Dembele grew to become the youngest participant to seem for a Scottish group in Europe when he got here off the bench towards Cluj in December 2019 aged simply 16.
Since then, first-team minutes have been laborious to return by.
He made simply 5 appearances below Neil Lennon and John Kennedy through the 2020/21 marketing campaign, however did sufficient to persuade the membership to set off a one yr contract extension.
However this time round an analogous transfer from Ange Postecoglou seems unlikely having barely used the teenager this time period.
The Australian has performed it cool when quizzed on Dembele's future through the season.
He said following his return from harm: "It is two methods. That'll rely on Karamoko himself and the place he sees his future.
"We'll sit down on the acceptable time for him and map out what's greatest for him; what he thinks is greatest for him, and we'll make a decision."
With the times ticking down on his present deal a Karamoko Dembele's Celtic hype prepare might be about to tug into the station.