Following a breakout season in the Premier League, Michael Olise has attracted attention from a host of top clubs.
Born in London, the 22-year-old winger spent his youth days at Chelsea before notching seven goals in three seasons at Reading.
That earned him an £8.37million move to Palace in the summer of 2021, and he has since scored nine goals in 72 appearances.
One particular club that seem interested in the winger is Man United following the arrival of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is keen to overhaul Erik ten Hag’s misfiring attack.
But, many United fans won’t be aware of the fact that Olise often doesn’t celebrate his goals and gives extremely blunt interviews.
Crystal Palace winger Michael Olise struck an unstoppable free-kick late on for his side
The Palace winger performed a muted celebration after scoring against Manchester United
Following a last-minute screamer of a free-kick against the Red Devils in January to earn his side a draw, fans were flabbergasted to see the winger not celebrate.
One fan wrote on social media after the goal: ‘Olise is sick in the head, how do you not celebrate after scoring that’.
Olise’s former Reading team-mate, defender Tom McIntyre, spoke with The Athletic and lifted the lid on the winger’s subdued scoring reactions.
‘We’d say he’s a bit weird sometimes because when he scored goals, he sometimes wouldn’t celebrate,’ McIntyre explained.
‘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 (Paunovic) 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.’
McIntyre – who has been at Reading his whole career – went on to suggest that the winger enjoys being ‘different and cool’.
Following the arrival of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, attention at United has turned towards Olise
Manager Erik ten Hag’s recent signings have not hit the ground running so far at the club
‘Midway through last season, he unfollowed all of us on Instagram and only followed about 15 people,’ said the Reading defender.
‘There was no one from Reading except maybe one or two of his closest mates on there, which we all found pretty amusing.
‘I know what it is, he loves the rapper Lil Uzi Vert and there’s another few of those rappers he likes. They unfollow everyone on their Instagram and I think he wants to be like them. That’s strange to me and some of the lads but to him, that’s different and cool.’
In November last year, Olise also gave a strangely blunt interview after scoring against West Ham.
‘Talk us through it,’ said a reporter on Palace TV. Olise replied: ‘Through what, the goal? I think Wilf passed me the ball, shot, scored.’ When asked if Palace deserved the win, he said: ‘Yeah’.
