Michael Olise was born to France to a Nigerian-British father and a French-Algerian mother in London. He spent time in the academies of Chelsea FC, Manchester City and Reading FC and played at Crystal Palace before finally leaving England at the age of 22 to join Bayern Munich in Germany.
When considering his international future as a footballer, Olise was eligible to play for Nigeria, England, France and Algeria (and Haiti, due to some ancestral roots). Having grown up in England, many may have believed
he would don the the logo of the Three Lions. But he ended up choosing France instead.
Asked again in an interview with Highsnobiety (as captured by @iMiaSanMia) why he chose France over all the others, Olise gave a simple response: “The players I followed when I was young were French: [Zinedine] Zidane, Thierry Henry, [Franck] Ribéry. And I always came to France when I was young. It felt more natural.”
The interviewer then pivots, asking if Olise still spoke French with his mother and what language they argue in. “Now, we speak French pretty much all the time,” the Frenchman replied. “And we don’t argue.”
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