MOUSSA DEMBELE has reassured the Celtic support there is much more to come after he won the prestigious Young French Player of the Year award.
The annual award, run by popular French TV show Telefoot, recognises the nation’s best Under-21 footballer.
Dembele took 37 per cent of the votes to come out on top against competition from PSG midfielder Adrien Rabiot, Manchester United forward Anthony Martial, Bayern Munich’s Kingsley Coman and Ousmane Dembele, of Borussia Dortmund.
The striker has netted four goals in as many games for the French Under-21 side and he was thrilled with the coveted award as well as 17 for the Hoops.
Dembele said: “It’s a great thing to for me to win and a trophy and I guess it means I am doing a good job, but it just means I need to keep going.
“It’s a trophy, but I need to keep producing and performing. I’m young and I can still learn a lot.
“It’s great that even in France that people keep looking and analysing my performances. I need to keep working hard, which is the key for everything.
“This is the start of my career. The first few months here have been great for me, but I just need to keep working hard in training and doing what I have been doing on the pitch and everything will be fine for me and the club.
“This is a massive club, but when you come to a club like Celtic you want to produce on the pitch.
“I am doing that and enjoying my football and the team is winning, so we need to keep giving 100 per cent for the team and the club and working to improve.
“There is a good cohesion between the players and we need to continue in this way.”
The 20-year-old’s form has dipped in recent weeks, but he has thanked his fellow players for the manner in which he has integrated quickly into Scottish football.
He added: “It’s great. The supporters have always been behind not only me, but every Celtic player and it’s great for me and them to have these fans backing us.
“It’s not only me who has won this trophy – we have won it, and, hopefully, it’s the first of many.
“We have won this all together. I am on the pitch scoring goals, but behind me there are 10 players and then there are those on the bench and those in the rest of the squad.
“When I win this trophy, it’s down to the work of everyone. Everyone has helped me since I have been here so I just want to say thanks to them.
“We have been producing some good football and we need to keep going in this way.
“It’s great to get this award in front of these big players, and some of them have more experience than me.
“I am happy to win it, but it’s a team game and we all play together in the national team, so it’s because of them as well, we are 11 players on the pitch when we play.”
* Dembele was talking to Celtic TV.
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