Celtic skipper Scott Brown reckons Parkhead prodigy Karamoko Dembele is in the perfect place to maximise his potential and believes he can take inspiration from another youngster impressing for the Hoops in Kieran Tierney.
Dembele, 13, is an academy prospect who shot to fame last week when he was handed his debut for Celtic's Under-20s side.
His brief substitute run-out against Hearts and viral clips of him tormenting rival youngsters from the likes of Barcelona has already sparked speculation he is about to become football's next superstar.
Brown, though, is preaching caution after insisting the talented teenage recruit needs time to grow as a player and suggests 19-year-old left-back Tierney has set a good example.
13-year-old Karamoko Dembele coming off the bench to make his debut for Celtic U20s this evening. The boy is tipped to be a star. pic.twitter.com/PHQFbaMXGq
- Liam O'Hare (@Liam_O_Hare) October 3, 2016
Tierney is reportedly being tracked by Manchester City and Arsenal after his impressive transition from academy graduate to first-team regular, but the Hoops captain says his teammate will not be affected by the big-name suitors chasing him.
"Kieran has got his feet firmly on the floor,'' he said. "He's a nice, nice kid. He stays with his mum and dad and is just loving every single minute of playing for Celtic.
"He's been fantastic since he came into the team. I saw him come through the Under-20s and the 19s and he was exceptional coming through those levels.
"He's taken his chance. Emilio Izaguirre has been fantastic for us for a number of seasons but for Kieran to get in ahead of him shows how well Kieran must be doing.''
Brown also believes Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers will ensure Dembele gets all the help he needs to make the breakthrough.
He said: "Karamoko has been up training at Lennoxtown a couple of times.
"He looks the part but he's still got a little bit of development to go and I'm sure he'll be a good player and a prospect.
"When you see him playing against Barcelona and he's running past 13- and 14-year-olds like they are not there it shows you that he's got a bit.
"But he's got a lot to learn as well, and with our gaffer that's here just now I'm sure he'll learn as much as he possibly can.
"Our youth academy are great with the young ones coming through and all they do is look after them and try to protect them as much as possible.''
Tierney isn't the only Celtic youngster on the radar of Europe's top clubs, with reports suggesting Arsenal as well as Bayern Munich and Real Madrid are also keeping tabs on another Celtic youngster, Moussa Dembele.
The France Under-21 striker -- no relation of Karamoko -- has settled into life in Glasgow quickly since moving from Fulham, with 12 goals in 17 appearances.
And Brown reckons the presence of last season's top scorer Leigh Griffiths will only drive him on to grab even more.
He said: "Leigh overshadowed Moussa a wee bit in the first few games of the season but since then Moussa has made some great leaps forward.
"He's doing really well right now and hopefully he can continue that for the rest of the season.
"It's a good sign for us as a club to have two guys capable of scoring goals regularly. We can try and play him and Leigh together or just continue the way we are.
"Moussa is doing really well but you can always rely on Leigh to score you 30 or 40 goals a season. It's great competition for both of them.''
However, Brown was reluctant to agree with former Celtic striker Kenny Dalglish's claim that the Ladbrokes Premiership title race was as good as over just eight games into the season.
Rodgers' men have a four-point lead and a game in hand over second-placed Aberdeen but Brown said: "There's still a long way to go. That's very nice of Kenny to say that. We'd take it the now if we could.
"However, Aberdeen are going to battle all the way and so are Hearts.''