Michael Olise has emerged as one of the standout performers at the World Cup, having chosen to represent France over four other eligible nations, including England. The 24-year-old Bayern Munich midfielder was born in White City, London, to a Nigerian-British father and a French-Algerian mother. He grew up in west London and spent time in the academies of Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester City before making his professional debut in 2019.
Olise's International Eligibility and Decision
Olise was eligible to play for England, France, Nigeria, Algeria, and Haiti. However, he made his debut for France at the Under-18 level in 2019 and received his first senior cap from Didier Deschamps five years later. In an interview with Highsnobiety, Olise explained his choice: "The players I followed when I was young were French: Zidane, Thierry Henry, Ribery. And I always came to France when I was young. It felt more natural."
Vieira's Perspective on Olise's Choice
Former Arsenal captain and France's 1998 World Cup winner Patrick Vieira, who managed Olise at Crystal Palace, claimed that Olise picked Les Bleus ahead of England because he believed he had a better chance of winning the World Cup. "There was no question of England or anything else," Vieira told L'Equipe. "He told me he had always been a supporter of the French national team. And he also explained to me that he had a better chance of becoming a world champion with Les Bleus than with England."
Henry's Praise for Olise
After France's last-16 victory over Sweden, Thierry Henry lavished praise on Olise, suggesting he should be regarded as France's most important player ahead of Kylian Mbappe. "What he does off the ball is second to none," Henry told Fox Sports. "Because people always stay on what a guy does on the ball, usually, when you're that kind of guy, technical, you forget about your defensive duty. He doesn't, he thinks about the game, the way he goes about the game, Michael is a freak.
"The way he sees stuff is just not the same as others can see stuff. If things don't happen the way he likes to happen, sometimes he drifts a bit out of the game because he sees everything so perfectly and so quickly that if you're not on his wave sometimes he gets annoyed. But what a player, I had the privilege to coach him. Sometimes he was doing stuff in training and you have to hold yourself from going, 'wow', because as a coach you just can't do that, you talk to your assistant, 'did you see what he just did?'. And then you say, 'come back, come back, come back, let's go guys'. This guy is on another planet, he is just different. MVP will always be Kylian, because he will put numbers no one can do, but the most important player is Michael Olise."
