New signing at Crystal Palace of England, Michael Olise has opened up on the chain of issues that made him agree to join the English Premier League outfit, as he says it is a club where a creative player can express himself, megasportsarena.com reports.
While affirming that he would love to bring his creativity and dribbling skills to bear on his game at Selhurst Park, the former Reading of England dazzler acknowledged that his form in the past season accounted for interest he gained from The Eagles.
The Hammersmith-born teenager moves to south London after a season with Reading that saw him earn seven goals and 12 assists from 46 games.
Olise started his youth career with Chelsea, before joining Manchester City and then Reading, where he worked his way through the system and earned a first-team debut in March 2019, aged just 17.
That achievement and three further senior appearances secured Olise the award as Reading’s Scholar of the Season for 2018/19, after which he enjoyed more minutes with The Royals in 19/20 and scored his first professional goal in September 2019 against Barnsley.
However, it was not until this past season that Olise’s name truly came to the fore, with the promising youngster scooping a trio of awards for his impressive performances: EFL Young Player of the Season, and inclusion in the Championship Team of the Season as well as the PFA’s Championship Team of the Year.
He is now hoping to step up from the theatrics he unleashed last season in the lower division English Championship, and is of a view that playing under former French international, Patrick Vieira will boost his aspirations.
Incidentally, Olise is already a French youth international, as he opted to pledge his allegiance to his mother’s country rather than Nigeria, where his father hails from.
He also has eligibility to star for Algeria, as his mother’s parents hail from the North African country, but Olise admitted he feels more attached to France, hence his decision to follow Vieira to Selhurst Park.
Olise added that he is proud to be Vieira’s first signing as Palace coach, adding: “I had a conversation with the manager and he was talking about how he sees me in the team: the plans, the development and the vision for the club.
“It’s very good, so I thought it was a good fit. It’s a big moment: Premier League football. The Premier League is known to be the top league in the world, so it’s definitely going to be a lot tougher but nothing that I’m not ready for.
“I like to express myself – to have fun. I’m creative, [like] dribbling and [I’m] just free, really… Last season was my main season where I was contributing to the team and helping them in our fight.
“That season was a good one. [Palace] are a good Premier League team – it’s a club where you’re free to express yourself. [I hope to] push to win as many games and see where that takes us.”
The London-based EPL club’s chairman, Steve Parish interjected: “I’m delighted that Michael has joined us at Crystal Palace.
“We have been monitoring him extremely closely for an extended period of time, and have been impressed by his consistent performances for Reading at such a young age.
“He clearly has an abundance of talent that I’m sure will excite all of our supporters, and clearly shows our direction of travel for this window.”
Vieira added: “We have the tools in our football club to make him a better player, and we’ve known him quite well because he’s a player the football club have been following for a long time.
“I think it is important to refresh the squad, to bring some new faces, to bring young talent here, and this is a really good signing for us.”
