Michael Olise passnotes: Patrick Vieira's first signing as Crystal Palace manager could be a gem

The 19-year-old attacking midfielder signed a five-year contract with the club on Thursday, joining from Reading and in doing so becoming the first signing of new manager Patrick Vieira's tenure at Selhurst Park.

So what will the precocious star bring to Vieira's side, how will he fit in and what can fans expect?

Below, Sportsmail runs the rule over the talented teenager who could be spearheading the Eagles attack in no time at all...

 

Legendary former Arsenal midfielder Vieira was announced on Sunday. Four days later, Olise was confirmed. That speaks to the proactiveness of the club.

With Vieira - an authoritative figure from his stellar playing days - confirmed, Palace moved quickly, activating an £8m release clause and finalising personal terms for a player they have long observed and admired. And now they have him.

After breaking through at the Madejski as a 17-year-old, he made 22 appearances in 2019-20 before cementing his place in the side last season, with 19 goal involvements in 46 games in all competitions.

As a player, Olise is left-footed, and is suited to a right-sided attacking midfield role which allows him to cut in on his stronger foot. He can also play as a No 10, centrally behind a striker, positional versatility which may see him dovetail nicely with other Palace attackers.

 

He is, as a former Chelsea and Manchester City youth player, very comfortable and confident on the ball, happy to take on defenders himself to create opportunities or come deeper to pick up the ball from defence or midfield and drive forwards.

The Hammersmith-born star's strengths include dribbling, and an excellent weight of pass which allows him to link up with team-mates and send incisive through-balls for players in front of him, with a surprising physicality and change of pace despite his lithe frame.

Olise is also the possessor of a cultured left foot (you rarely hear of cultured right foots) which can deliver testing, dipping set pieces, whether corners, free-kicks or penalties, and many of his 12 assists last season came from those situations.

Those dozen assists, along with seven goals, saw him named in last season's Championship Team of the Year and receive the EFL Young Player of the Year award.

 

Stylistically, he is not far from Eberechi Eze, another gifted attacking midfielder who went from the Championship to SE25 and impressed to such an extent he was set to be named in Gareth Southgate's provisional England squad for Euro 2020; mirroring that stratospheric rise is not beyond the realms of possibility for Olise.

Unfortunately, Eze suffered an unfortunate Achilles injury - but fans will hope he can make a similarly stellar step up to the Premier League. A 'street baller' like Eze, he glides and weaves past opponents with gleeful abandon and retains the ball cleverly and calmly.

A front four of Wilfried Zaha, assuming he stays, Eze, when fit, and Olise behind a firing Christian Benteke is a mouthwatering prospect for Eagles fans and a highly worrying one for defenders.

Even if the out-of-contract Andros Townsend stays, with Eze out for the long term and Zaha potentially leaving Olise can expect to see plenty of first-team action despite his tender age and inexperience at top-flight level. He has also taken the No 7 shirt, reflecting this likely immediate step into the first-team.

 

He would likely slot in on the right side of midfield in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2, perhaps behind the striker to initially absolve him of much defensive responsibility, or at right forward in a 4-3-3, with Townsend acting as an experienced example to him in the same way he guided Aaron Wan-Bissaka's development.

Chairman Steve Parish was unlikely to play down his first major signing of the summer, but he spoke with real vigour and enthusiasm about the twice-capped France U18 international.

He said: 'I’m delighted that Michael has joined us at Crystal Palace. We have been impressed by his consistent performances for Reading at such a young age. He clearly has an abundance of talent that I'm sure will excite all of our supporters, and clearly shows our direction of travel for this window.'

Much has been written about the ageing, creaking first team, the oldest by average age in the division, and fresh blood being sorely needed. Younger players like Olise, if they fail to impress, could likely be sold on for the price the club paid or even a profit.

 

But there is little concern about Olise's talent, and there is a real hope that he can make the kind of transformative attacking impact Eze did last season and Zaha has for years. This, in short, is the kind of signing Palace need to be making.

What will particularly stick in the craw for Reading fans will be the cut-price cost. £8m, these days, for an English attacker, is peanuts, particularly when Emiliano Buendia moved to Aston Villa for around £35m and Ollie Watkins (£30m), Ben Godfrey (£25m) and Said Benrahma (£25m) moved for similar fees.

Admittedly, the £8m minimum fee release clause was built into the contract and Olise may not have signed a deal without it, but given the recent examples of previous fees, Palace will feel they have themselves a bargain and Reading will curse another cheap departure.

Reading fan Ed Ryding said on Twitter: 'Norwich got a total of £80m for three academy players. Lewis - £15m, Godfrey - £25m, Buendia - £40m. We’ve got £8m for Olise, (Omar) Richards, & (Danny) Loader, combined.

'Three very highly rated academy players, with the two latter players going to Bayern & Porto. The #readingfc way'. Ouch.

 

Buendia more than doubled Olise's goals tally, has Premier League experience, and is less of a raw, unpolished player, but is he worth four times as much? Almost certainly not.

It is also early to already leap aboard the hype train or proclaim the second coming before Olise has even set foot on the pitch for Palace.

But yes, Michael Akpovie Olise is exactly the kind of player Crystal Palace want to sign. Young, hungry, fearless, skilful, promising. London and proud. In that way, he is also a personification of the kind of club they want to be.

He's not a panacea to all Palace's problems; there is work yet to do. But it's a hell of a start.