Karamoko Dembele has taken Celtic by storm at the age of just 14 but his brother is also enjoying a dramatic rise through the ranks
KARAMOKO DEMBELE caused a sensation when he made his Celtic Under-20s debut earlier this year aged just 13.
But there is another intriguing football tale currently unfolding in the Dembele household.
Brother Siriki Dembele, 21, has gone from a non-professional playing in the Nike Academy to one of the lower leagues’ hottest properties inside six months.
His breakthrough at Grimsby — which has included winning November’s EFL Young Player of the Month award — has been so impressive, even Premier League clubs Crystal Palace and Swansea have taken notice.
It has been a whirlwind since the winger joined the Mariners in May but one that Dembele always believed would come true.
And that is thanks, in part, to the advice and wisdom of his younger brother, which clearly belies his tender years.
Siriki said: “Karamoko’s really excited for me. When I was 16, 17 and didn’t have a club, he always believed in me. He was telling me to wait for my chance. He knew how good I was.
“He always said one day it would happen but I needed to make it happen. If you help yourself, God will help you. That’s what I tried to do.
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“Age doesn’t matter. Sometimes I’ll ask him for advice because of the way he thinks. He’s a very special boy.”
Siriki was born in the Ivory Coast but moved when he was five to London — where fellow winger Karamoko was born — as his parents sought a better life.
Dad Losseni and mum Abiba worked as hospital cleaners before the family relocated to Glasgow, where Losseni took up similar work.
Scotland’s second city was where Siriki grew up — and you can tell by his Glaswegian accent. He played locally before joining Dundee United, then the Nike Academy at St George’s Park National Football Centre in Burton which looks after unsigned players.
Then came his big break at Grimsby.
There are three brothers and three sisters in the family, spanning a whopping 19 years, from 27-year-old Maferima to eight-year-old Hassan, who is also in Celtic’s academy.
Siriki and Karamoko are very close, despite the former now being in England.
The pair talk on the phone all the time and Siriki can still recall the day he discovered that Karamoko was going to turn out for Celtic’s Under-20s — before the rest of the world did.
He said: “I was like, ‘This is amazing, you don’t know how sick this is, you’re only 13 and you’re playing with the Under-20s!’ But everyone else was so calm about it. Then the next day, after he made his debut and everything started to hit the internet, the rest of my family were like, ‘Wow’.
“We had press coming to the house and my mum didn’t know what to do. It became massive all over the world.
“He’s still the same person since all the hype. He hasn’t changed. He’s a good lad.
“He’s always wanting to get better.
“Every day in the house he has the ball at his feet, in the kitchen, in the living room. He’s always trying new tricks, new dribbles. He’s always doing press-ups.
“In the house he’ll give me a lot of backchat and banter me about stuff!
“He’s confident inside but he’s very humble outside.”
Karamoko, now 14, has been training with the Hoops’ first team so Siriki is hopeful a full debut happen “soon”.
But “we will have to wait and see”, he added, if the wonderkid chooses to play for England or Scotland in the long-term.
Scotland Under-21s are understood to be watching Siriki himself with a possible call-up in the near future after a fabulous debut season that has included four goals and three assists.
The wideman knows he can call on Kolo Toure for advice as the pair’s fathers are good pals.
And former Celtic, Liverpool and Manchester City ace Toure will have been proud of the Grimsby star’s EFL award.
Siriki, who idolises Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, added: “The EFL person who presented the award told me that Wilfried Zaha and Dele Alli had won it before. When she told me that I was really happy.
“The manager Russell Slade has given me so much confidence and my agent Danny Williams has helped me massively.
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“I know what I can do and I’ve always believed that. I’m trying my best to do more every day when I step on to the pitch, and hopefully it pays off.
“This year has been unbelievable for me. Just thinking that last year I wasn’t a professional and this year I am, it’s incredible. I’ll keep pushing for more.”
When it comes to the Dembele football family, there is definitely more to come.