Michael Olise is the defining story at Bayern Munich right now, and not just for what he is doing on the pitch. The 24-year-old has been in extraordinary form, scoring nine goals in nine games across all competitions and reaching a market value of 180 million euros, a new Bundesliga record according to Transfermarkt.de coverage. Former France international Rothen placed him alongside Lamine Yamal as the best player in world football, telling RMC Sport that Olise and Yamal "stand above everyone else." Bayern's 7-0 demolition of Union Berlin before the international break underlined just how central he has become to the club's ambitions.

Yet the contract situation casts a shadow over that brilliance. Sport Bild reports that Bayern held a clarifying meeting with Olise's agent after the player's detached public behaviour raised concerns internally, with teammates reportedly describing "a kind of fear" he has around unfamiliar people. More pressingly, his camp is demanding an exit clause worth more than 200 million euros as a condition of signing any new deal, with Real Madrid and Liverpool among those monitoring the situation closely.

Beyond Olise, Bayern sit second in the Bundesliga on ten points after four games, one behind Borussia Dortmund. They travel to Augsburg on October 10, a fixture that offers Vincent Kompany's side the chance to apply pressure at the top before the next wave of transfer noise inevitably returns.