“Michael is turning into a superstar,” Vincent Kompany, the Bayern head coach, said earlier this season. “He has that special talent. A joy to watch.”
The success of the Premier League is built, to a large extent, on its ability to attract many of the most exciting foreign players to these shores. There is something quite painful, then, about the sight of Olise and Kane thriving in the Bundesliga rather in the country of their birth, and something quite strange about the fact that Bayern’s line-up last weekend featured as many players born in London as in Munich.
With regard to Olise, 23, there must also be a considerable sense of loss for the English national team. Olise spent his entire life in England until moving to Germany last year and would have been eligible for selection if he had not chosen to represent France instead (his mother is French-Algerian). He has now made 13 international appearances, scoring four goals.
The good news for English football is that Olise could one day return to these shores. He has already slipped through the fingers of Chelsea and Manchester City – both of whom he played for at youth level – but the biggest Premier League sides will undoubtedly want to make him theirs in the future.
Bayern have denied suggestions that Olise has a release clause in his contract, but that will not stop the speculation from building over the coming months. Olise is proven in English football, having starred for Reading and Palace, and is evidently a game changer at the highest level. He will be wanted.
