Following his £50.8m move from Crystal Palace, all eyes will be on Michael Olise when he makes his Bayern Munich debut next month, will the Frenchman make a splash?
Olise was one of the Premier League’s best attackers last season, scoring 10 and assisting a further six goals in his 19 league appearances for Palace. He was the subject of strong interest from Premier League heavyweights such as Chelsea and Manchester United, but plumped for a move to Bavaria.
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Michael Olise Bayern debut: Reds' record vs Wolfsburg bodes well
On account of his involvement in Thierry Henry’s men’s French Olympic football tournament squad, which could see him remain with the national side until August 10th, we don’t expect Olise to play in Bayern’s first competitive fixture of the season, against Ulm in the DFB Pokal first round.
We instead expect Olise to make his first start under Vincent Kompany in Bayern’s first Bundesliga match, away to Wolfsburg on August 24th.
Wolfsburg finished a sturdy 12th place last season, but are some way off their best sides of previous years, such as 2008/09’s Bundesliga-winning side that starred Edin Dzeko, or even 2014/15’s second-placed side that featured a young Kevin de Bruyne.
Wolfsburg lost both games against Bayern in 2023/24, and are winless against the Bavarian giants since 2015, so Olise will be confident of getting off to a winning start on that basis.
Where will Olise play for Bayern?
Olise is a supremely talented player, capable of providing quality attacking moments from across the pitch. But the area in which he is most effective is in the right half-space.
Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner got the best out of Olise by playing him as a right sided number ten in his 3-4-2-1, making that pocket his own and supporting him with overlapping runs from right-wing-back Daniel Munoz.
However, Bayern, and Vincent Kompany, generally play a back four system. The goal will be to get Olise into the same kind of area from which he was so devastatingly effective for Palace last season.
Olise will not be involved in Bayern's pre-season at all, for the reasons outlined above, so there will be few hints as to the specificities of Olise's role before this game kicks off.
However, we think Olise will play as a number ten in this one, with a license to drift, likely with fellow creator Jamal Musiala to his left, and the fleet-footed Leroy Sane to his right.
His opposite number will likely be Wolfsburg’s defensive midfield specialist Yannick Gerhardt. The 30-year-old has been capped for his nation, but Olise will still back himself to get the better of his opponent.
How important is a quick start?
Bayern endured a difficult and turbulent 2023/24 on and off the pitch, and fell well short of their usual high standards. Olise himself has a cool and unshakeable self-confidence that would not be disturbed by a slow start.
But for the club, and new manager Vincent Kompany, who has had enormous faith placed in him, it is essential their star signing be seen to get off to a flying start in Bavaria, both to put the pressure on defending champions Bayer Leverkusen, and to prevent the same toxic atmosphere that asphyxiated their trophy hopes last season from descending over the Allianz Arena again.
