Eberl revealed on Wednesday that he had been in touch with Olise "time and again" during the World Cup, before recalling two specific exchanges. "He sent me a nice photo with Manu Kone, whom I brought to Gladbach at the time, with the two of them standing arm in arm in the dressing room," Eberl said. Olise and Kone, now at Roma, reached the World Cup semi-finals with France but lost there to eventual world champions Spain.
During those talks, Eberl also offered Olise the chance to change squad number: "We asked him whether he wanted to have the number 11, as at the World Cup. He said: No, he'd like to keep the 17."
Olise currently wears the number 11 for France, while at Bayern Munich it belonged last season to loanee Nicolas Jackson. After Jackson's departure and Olise's refusal, the 11 went to new signing Nathaniel Brown, who was officially presented on Wednesday.
Eberl tired of Olise rumours: "I'm glad now"
As Olise and Eberl exchanged messages about Manu Kone and squad numbers, the football world was busy discussing a possible move for the 24-year-old exceptional talent from Bayern Munich to Real Madrid. Despite repeated denials from both clubs, the rumour mill kept bubbling away merrily.
"People understood it, because the World Cup was on and Bayern Munich and Real Madrid are among the biggest clubs in the world. That gets clicks," Eberl said. "At some point it became tiresome when this thing just kept being pushed further and further. Even though both Real Madrid and we made it clear that there was absolutely nothing in it. I'm glad now that the issue is hopefully almost gone." Real's planned signing of RB Leipzig's Yan Diomande should end the rumours at the latest.
Currently on an extended post-World Cup holiday, Olise will join team training after the Asia tour from 1 to 8 August.