It’s always handy when a player you’ve set your sights on signing wants you as much as you want him. That appears to be the situation Manchester United find themselves in as they put the plans in place to bring one of the Premier League’s most mercurial talents to Old Trafford this summer.
One with a release clause in his contract, and the Red Devils in his blood.
According to Football London, Manchester United is the dream destination for Michael Olise. And while Crystal Palace would obviously be loathe to let the fabulous Frenchman go, it appears that they don’t really have too much of a say in the matter.
Not if United trigger that aforementioned release clause, rumoured to be somewhere in the region of £60 million.
So while the mood isparticularly positive around Palace at the moment – and so it should be following successive and scintillating wins over Liverpool, West Ham and Newcastle – more difficult days may be just around the corner for their new head coach Oliver Glasner.
Manchester United want Michael Olise and vice versa
“The challenge he (Glasner) has got, of course, is that everyone is going to be looking at Olise and (Ebere) Eze,” Simon Jordan, who spent a decade as the Eagles chairman until 2010, tells talkSPORT (25 April, 11.40am).
“And that is a big challenge for Palace. If they lose them, who do they replace them with?”
Crystal Palace find themselves in the rather unique situation of being a bottom-half club with two genuine Champions League-quality players at their disposal. Two players who, particularly during that 5-2 filleting of West Ham, produced dazzling attacking displays that would not look out of place under, say, Pep Guardiola at Man City.
As of yet, Eze has not yet been mentioned as a United target – number ten’s aren’t really a priority with Bruno Fernandes in such stellar form. Olise, however, certainly has. Per The Standard, the former Reading ace is one of Ineos’ leading targets, alongside Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite.
And while the likes of Chelsea have also shown an interest in the past – triggering a previous release clause in 2023 before Olise signed fresh terms at Selhurst Park – it would be a surprise if the winger left South London this summer and did not end up at Old Trafford.
Crystal Palace star ‘really keen on joining United’
“What would I do? I think you’re probably in a situation where Michael Olise signed a new contract last year predominantly to protect Palace’s value in the next set of negotiations. And Eze, I think, you’re not going to be able to hold him back,” Jordan adds, while accepting the lure of Manchester United.
“So what would I do? I would want to wring every single last penny out of the purchasers to get the value for Palace.
“If someone like West Ham came knocking on my door, they can sling their hook. The player won’t have that enormous, head-turning moment.
“But if Man United come, or Liverpool or Arsenal come, the player forms part of the problem because he then goes; ‘Well, I love it here but I want to go to this bigger football club. Now, I want to go’.”
Olise, who would likely replace Antony with United expected to consider offers for the Brazilian, has seven goals and four assists in just 10 league starts this term. The concern, of course, is that Olise – like fellow wing target Pedro Neto – would arrive at United with a rather worrying injury record.
“I’m sure that the player (Olise) would be really keen on joining Manchester United,” Fabrizio Romano tells The United Stand. “That’s 100 per cent guaranteed.
“But (Man United) won’t be the only club.”
Maybe not. But they will surely be the ‘favourite’ club.