At 22 years old, Michael Olise has been climbing the steps four by four since July and his transfer to Bayern, estimated at 53 million euros – up to 60 million euros including bonus – making him the most expensive signing in the Bundesliga in the summer of 2024.
With the Bleuets in August, he was one of the great architects of the Olympic journey between Marseille, Nice, Bordeaux, Lyon and Paris until the silver medal, scoring two goals along the way. Performances which pushed Didier Deschamps to call him up to the French team in September.
The third stage of the Olise rocket went into orbit for seven crazy days after returning from the international break (five goals, two assists), notably last Saturday in Bremen, with a double – like against Zagreb four days earlier for his Champions League debut– and two assists.
His back passes for Jamal Musiala, after tormenting five Werder field playersand for Harry Kane, when the Frenchman had the opportunity to complete a Munich move on the hour mark, impressed.
“What he does is instinct, intuition. We often know what he’s going to do, but we don’t know how to stop him.“, slipped former German international Dietmar Hamann, winner of the Champions League in 2005 with Liverpool and consultant for the broadcaster Sky for several years.
Comparison with Robben
“He’s a great player, we understand each other very well. The more matches we play together, the stronger the chemistry will be“, underlined Jamal Musiala, his junior by a little more than a year.
Both know each other from their time at the Chelsea training center in the 2010stherefore exchange in English and were seated side by side, the day after the demonstration in Bremen, during the visit of Bayern at the Oktoberfest wearing the traditional “Lederhose” (skin breeches) and “Mass” (liter tankard in German) in hand.
Asked about Munich’s summer recruitment, Bayern sporting director Max Eberl even dared, two weeks ago on the set of the show Doppelpass on Sport 1, to make a comparison with two former Bayern legends: “He is a player who, like a young Ribéry or a young Robben, can do extraordinary things“.
“There is still a long way to go, Robben was one of the best in his position“, somewhat nuanced Harry Kane. “But he is young, he has a good state of mind, he wants to improve. It’s a great quality to be hungry and want to improve,” adds the captain of the English selection, who sees Olise as a “fantastic player”.
Starting four times (out of six matches), his convincing performances redistributed the cards in the offensive animation of Vincent Kompany’s team. For the moment, the Belgian technician prefers Olise to Kingsley Coman, Serge Gnabry or Mathys Tel, forced to alternate to complete the trio alongside Musiala and Olise, while Leroy Sané is back after groin surgery in July.
Saturday, for the first shock of the Bundesliga against the reigning champion, Bayer LeverkusenBayern begins a cycle of five matches against top teams in Germany (Leverkusen, Frankfurt and Stuttgart) and Europe (Aston Villa and Barça) which will serve as a test for the team and for Olise.
