Despite having featured in several of Celtic's matchday squads in recent weeks, as well as playing six minutes of the 2-0 win over St. Mirren earlier this month, Karamoko Dembele is still yet to make a competitive start under the management of Ange Postecoglou.

And, while this is largely down to the winger suffering a fractured ankle in a pre-season fixture against Bristol City - something which the 19-year-old only fully recovered from in February - with the forward's current contract at Parkhead set to expire this summer, time would appear to be running out for England U18 international to make his mark at Celtic.

Having said that, the youngster has been highly impressing for Tommy McIntyre Celtic B side - most recently in a 5-0 drubbing of Partick Thistle in the Glasgow Cup.

Indeed, the £225k-rated attacker proved to be a constant threat down the right flank at the Penny Cars Stadium on Tuesday, setting up Johnny Kenny for Celtic's opener with a brilliant bit of trickery out wide, before forcing the Thistle keeper into a fine save which the centre-forward duly nodded home from - as can be seen below:

Just a minute later, Dembele got himself on the scoresheet, plucking a fantastic Mikey Johnston switch out of the sky with a deft outside of the boot first touch, before twice selling two Partick defenders with a dummy shot and cooly slotting home - as can be seen here:

The 19-year-old notched his second and Celtic's fourth in the second half of the fixture, once again picking the ball up out wide, before lining up his defender, cutting inside and unleashing a thunderous drive into the far top corner - which can be seen here:

As such, while there is undoubtedly a huge gulf in class between the Glasgow Cup and the Scottish Premiership, it would very much appear as if the player Lewis Laird dubbed a "superb" talent who is "rightfully getting praise" is extremely close to getting back to his best.

That leads us to believe that Postecoglou must finally unleash the 19-year-old sensation in the first team sooner rather than later, or else the Bhoys could very well be waving goodbye to Dembele come the end of the season.

AND in other news: Mark Guidi drops worrying 9-word Celtic injury update, supporters will be gutted