Michael Olise has well and truly proven himself to be one of the best signings Bayern Munich have made in recent seasons. Ever since he made the move to the German Rekordmeister from Crystal Palace back in the summer of 2024, the French winger has gone on to tally 25 goals and 29 assists from a total of 65 appearances across all competitions. So far this season, he has gotten off to a flying start, having already tallied 5 goals and 6 assists from Bayern’s 10 straight wins across all competitions,
which for Vincent Kompany, he’s now the Bayern manager that’s had the best ever start to a season.
At the international level with the French national team, Olise is just one of a long list of world class attackers that Didier Deschamps has at his disposal. He’s spoilt for choice having all of Olise, Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué, Bradley Barcola, and Hugo Ekitike among others. For Olise, he has started the last two World Cup qualifiers, which were wins against Iceland and Ukraine and the only one of Le Bleus’ last five matches that he didn’t start was the third place UEFA Nations League match against Germany. Deschamps has clearly taken notice of just how good he’s been for Bayern.
Current France and former Palace teammates William Saliba and Jean-Philippe Mateta couldn’t hold back their admiration for Olise. Mateta, who has become quite a menacing force at the spear of Oliver Glasner’s attack at Palace, took time to recognize just how good Olise has been. “I played with him for many seasons. He’s a good guy. He’s very good technically, smart and always makes the right decision. I’m following him at Bayern – what he’s been doing there is fantastic. He’s also improved his French,” the striker explained (via @iMiaSanMia).
Part of what makes Olise so likeable is his ability to stay humble and grounded. For how much flare and presence he brings to the attack for both Bayern and France, it could be rather easy to get carried away or start to come off as a bit self-absorbed, but Olise is the exact opposite. Arsenal center-back William Saliba very much admires Olise’s ability to stay so “nonchalant,” as he described it.
“He’s one of the ‘technical leaders’ of the team. He brings a bit of ‘craziness’ to the team – and has good technique. He’s a cool guy, a bit nonchalant sometimes, which is funny. He’s a very good player and will help us with his quality,” Arsenal’s towering defender enthused.
