- Playmaker rescued a point vs Red Devils
- Crashed home off the bar in stoppage-time
- Not the first muted reaction of his career
WHAT HAPPENED? The talented 21-year-old playmaker stepped up in the first minute of stoppage-time against the Red Devils to send Selhurst Park into raptures as he crashed a spectacular 25-yard effort in off the underside of the crossbar. Such a strike would have been expected to deliver an outpouring of emotion, but Olise merely shrugged his shoulders before eventually heading back into his own half and preparing for the restart.
WHAT THEY SAID: This is not the first time that an impressive strike has delivered such a reaction from Olise, with former Reading team-mate Michael Morrison revealing to The Athletic back in 2021 why an enigmatic character is so difficult to predict. Morrison said of Olise: “We’d say he’s a bit weird sometimes because when he scored goals, he sometimes wouldn’t celebrate. We’d be like, ‘Mike, you’ve just scored an important goal and you’re just walking back?’. What’s he doing? Then he’d play two-touch with the manager in the gym, he’d win a point in that, and he’d be shouting and celebrating, but on a Saturday, he’d score a goal in front of the home end and just stand there. We never really worked out why. He could never give us an answer but he’s just different; a special player.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Olise – who spent time in the academy systems at Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City as a youngster – joined Palace from Reading in the summer of 2021 and has registered six goals for the Eagles through 52 appearances.
IN THREE PHOTOS:
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GettyWHAT NEXT? Olise is considered to have plenty of potential still to be unlocked and Palace will be delighted to have him tied to a contract through to 2026 as there has already been talk of the France U21 international attracting interest from some of the Premier League’s biggest spending outfits.