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Arsenal defender William Saliba has hailed international teammate Michael Olise and labelled him as a "very good player" ahead of France's World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan on Thursday.
Olise, 23, who spent a short time in Arsenal's academy at the start of his career, is now plying his trade at Bayern Munich and is renowned as one of the best wingers in the world. Indeed, he has scored 25 times and provided 29 assists in just 65 appearances since moving to Bayern from Crystal Palace in 2024.
London-born Olise chose to represent France through his mother and has enjoyed quite the impact since his first cap last summer, netting three goals in 10 matches for his national team.
When asked about Olise in his press conference on Wednesday, Saliba said: "He's one of the technical leaders, he brings a bit of madness to this team because he's above average technically.
"He's a cool guy, he's funny. He's a bit nonchalant sometimes but he's a very good player and he's going to bring even more to this team given his quality."
Olise faced a tough decision about picking between Arsenal and Chelsea when he was a child.
Indeed, former Chelsea coach Sean Conlon had spotted seven-year-old Olise playing for Hayes and recommended him to the west London club.
In a 2022 interview with The Guardian, Conlon remembered a young Olise playing for Hayes: "Michael was also training with Arsenal at the time because before you move into the under-nines, you're allowed to train with multiple teams," he said.
"But he probably lived closer to Chelsea and they obviously have a great academy so he ended up signing for them," Conlon continued.
"Sometimes people don't think about it being hard for players who are supremely talented because that can also come with its own difficulties," Conlon explained. "It's not been a perfect journey for Michael but I think that has benefited him. Coming out of Chelsea at that age has given him that resilience and desire to succeed."
Olise and Chelsea reached a "mutual decision" to part ways during his teenage years, according to Conlon, leading the forward to briefly join Manchester City, before spending six months without a club before Reading came calling.
He came through the ranks at Reading before establishing himself as a star in the Championship. A productive first full season as a professional earned him a £8.37million move to Crystal Palace in 2021.
The Frenchman ended up spending three years at Selhurst Park, scoring 16 times and adding 25 assists in 90 games. In that time, he won Palace's Players' Player of the Season, the Premier League Goal of the Month in January 2023 and Palace's Goal of the Season in 2022/23 for his injury-time free-kick against Manchester United.
He came close to re-joining Chelsea in the summer of 2023 but spent one more season at Palace before his £51m plus add-ons move to Bayern was confirmed in July 2024. Olise helped Bayern win the Bundesliga last season, having been named in the division's Team of the Season in the process.
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