I did two trials, competing against players from different countries.“They have trials in Germany, Spain, Brazil, everywhere, but they only pick two players from each individual country.“The final trial was at Clairefontaine in France, the national academy. At 15, the youngster is widely regarded as the country’s most prodigious talent.Just like Siriki, he’s eligible to play for Scotland, England or the Ivory Coast but no decision has been taken on his international future. Now my parents are proud of all of us.”No wonder. You can unsubscribe at any time.Father Losseni and his sister Macoula after the Under-16 Victory Shield
While Siriki is lighting up League One and Karamoko is strutting his stuff at Celtic, their younger brother Hassan is playing for the Hoops Under-9s.Their sister Macoula, who also played football as a kid, has studied to be a lawyer and is now signed to a top modelling agency.It hasn’t been easy for any of them – but maybe even more so for Siriki.He was unable to continue in Dundee United’s youth set-up when training moved to St Andrews and he was left in limbo.But he never gave up and his big break came when he joined the elite Nike Academy.Siriki said: “From a young age I’ve always dreamt of being a professional footballer. Ben Siriki Dembélé: Date of birth: Sep 7, 1996: Place of birth: London : Age: 23: Height: 1,73 m: Citizenship: Scotland Cote d'Ivoire : Position: Forward - Right Winger : Foot: right: Current club: Peterborough United: Joined: Jul 1, 2018 : Contract expires: 30.06.2021: Social media: Further information. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. I was in Russia when he phoned to say he was playing for Celtic’s Under-20 team at just 13.“I was stunned, I couldn’t believe it. That’s what I tried to do.“Age doesn’t matter. I’ll keep pushing for more.”When it comes to the Dembele football family, there is definitely more to come. When I was 16, 17 and didn’t have a club, he always believed in me. Even when Karamoko was five, I knew he was special with a ball at his feet.“A year later, he joined a local side in Govan, Park Villa.
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. He’s still only 15 but is mature and hasn’t changed one bit.“He’s still the same boy our family knows and loves. I was getting goosebumps reading about it.“I was so happy. Ourexplains more about how we use your data, and your rights. And if he did then we would soon let him know.”When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. But it has changed. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. He’s a good lad.“Every day in the house he has the ball at his feet, in the kitchen, in the living room. 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.
Karamoko Dembélé is the brother of Siriki Dembélé (Peterborough United).