- Ex-Crystal Palace winger Michael Olise shines at World Cup
- France attacker crucial in 3-1 win over Senegal
- Patrick Vieira full of praise
Patrick Vieira has given a glowing verdict of former Crystal Palace winger Michael Olise and compared him to two France football icons. The attacking gem has already shone at the World Cup.
Olise made his tournament debut in Les Bleus’ 3-1 win over Senegal in their opener on Tuesday. He provided two assists, including a sensational pass to Kylian Mbappe for the first goal.
The 24-year-old comes off the back of a Ballon d’Or-worthy season at Bayern Munich. He put up an astonishing 22 goals and 31 assists in 52 games across competitions.
Vieira hails Olise
Olise showcased his talent throughout his time at Palace but supporters around the world have started taking notice since his move to Bayern. He left the Eagles for the Allianz Arena in a £47.4m deal in July 2024.
Vieira applauded Olise after his display in France’s win over Senegal. He claims that the winger is following in the footsteps of two legends (via ITV Football):
“I think in France we were quite really lucky because we had Michel Platini, we had Zinedine Zidane and I strongly believe we have now Michael Olise.
Vieira tipped Olise for the Ballon d’Or:
“I think he’s a future Ballon d’Or winner. He’s got all the attributes to shine on the big stage. He’s got the vision and the way he turned around to face the game and the quality of the pass to Kylian Mbappe was really, really close. He’s a willing number ten. He will do everything to put the strikers in the best position to score goals.”
Olise spent three seasons at Palace after joining from Reading in January 2021 for £8.37m. He appeared 90 times across competitions, scoring 16 goals and providing 25 assists.
There had long been an acceptance among the club’s fanbase that the Frenchman was a special talent. He’s now showing the world his enormous talent on the grandest stage.
Olise a Palace scouting success
Former Palace boss Oliver Glasner cited Olise as an example of the success of Palace’s scouting team. He said (via Palace Report):
“I can just confer huge credit and compliments to the scouting department here at Crystal Palace. There is one player [Michael Olise] winning the double in Germany and being announced Player of the Season in the German Bundesliga.”
Palace often unearth gems who go on to achieve huge success in their careers. Olise has become one of the world’s best players and much of that is down to his development at Selhurst Park.
Eberechi Eze and Marc Guehi are other examples of players who earned big-money moves in recent transfer windows. Eze joined Arsenal and won the Premier League title while Guehi headed to Manchester City and picked up the FA Cup and Carabao Cup.
