Or, in other words, Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich have signed Crystal Palace winger Michael Olise for £50m (60m euros).
The 22-year-old becomes Bayern’s fourth most expensive signing ever after £86.4m England captain Harry Kane, France full-back Lucas Hernandez and Netherlands centre-back Matthijs de Ligt.
Olise will join up with his new club later this summer, because he is currently featuring in the Paris Olympics for Thierry Henry’s France team.
Olise scores in FA Cup for Crystal Palace in 2022.
Olise could play on the right wing for Bayern Munich, as he did for Crystal Palace.
That would put him in the mould of modern Bayern great Arjen Robben, who also loved to cut in to shoot on his left foot.
“He is so graceful,” former West Ham and Scotland midfielder Don Hutchison told BBC Radio 5 Live late last season.
Ex-England and Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher called him a “superstar”.
Olise hit 10 goals last season for Crystal Palace, despite him missing over half the campaign with two serious hamstring injuries.
Only Kane – who scored 44 goals – and Jamal Musiala, with 12, scored more for Bayern.
Last season Musiala, Leroy Sane, Mathys Tel, Kingsley Coman, Serge Gnabry and Bryan Zaragoza, a January signing from Granada, all spent time on the Bayern wings.
But they failed to win the Bundesliga title for the first time in over a decade, so reinforcements were needed.
Sane, Kane and Olise could be the front three for Kompany, who replaced Thomas Tuchel after they lost the title to Bayer Leverkusen.
Olise played 90 times for Crystal Palace, with 16 goals and 25 assists in his three years at the club, following an £8m move from Reading.
Last season was the first time he hit double figure for goals, with his best form coming at the end of the campaign under Oliver Glasner.
But 2022-23 was arguably his best season as he was named Palace’s Players’ Player of the Year and became their first player to reach 10 assists or more in a Premier League campaign.
Olise was born and raised in London but has chosen to represent France at international level, through his mother.
He remains eligible to play for England, despite being part of the French Under-23 squad at the Olympic Games – but there is no reason to think he would decide to change now having been with France since under-19 level.
“We know that he has plenty of possibilities but he wants to play for France,” said French Olympics boss Henry.
“You have to highlight his desire to show that he wants to play for the French team.”
Olise was left out of France’s Euro 2024 squad and has yet to win a senior cap for Les Bleus.
England boss Gareth Southgate was subsequently asked about Olise when naming his own provisional squad for the Euros.
He said: “He would have to have a transfer of association.
That process would take quite a while.
“He is obviously a very good player.
He is a player we should have an interest in because he is a very good player but there is no way you could do all of that in time for the Euros.”
Henry added: “If he was English, he would have already left to play for England.
He could have made the other choice and played the Euros with the England team, like his team-mate Eberechi Eze at Crystal Palace, but he wants to play for France, knowing that he wouldn’t play in the Euros.”
Olise remains eligible for Nigeria and Algeria too.
Olise spent time with the Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City youth set-ups before joining Reading – but his time at Chelsea was by far the longest, seven years before leaving aged 14.
In another life Olise could have been Chelsea and England team-mates with Musiala, who was in the Blues’ academy with him.
Bayern’s Musiala played for England up to under-21 level but is now a senior Germany international.
Olise’s Chelsea exit was “mutual” according to Sean Conlan, who worked with the player as a child, at a company called We Make Footballers.
“He was so slight as a youngster, he needed game intelligence,” Conlon told BBC Sport in 2022.
“Add that to the character from his journey – it makes him the full package.
“He can go to the very, very top.
Everybody at Chelsea is so pleased with his success.”
But his Chelsea exit in 2016 was not the end of his story with the club.
They were interested in him this summer too, along with Newcastle, but he chose to move to Bayern.
A year ago they thought they had him for £35m, activating his own release clause, but he signed a new deal to stay at Selhurst Park instead.
And in 2021 they were being linked with a move to sign him from Reading along with many other top teams – including Bayern.
Chelsea do have an Olise though, Michael’s brother Richard – who is a 19-year-old defender with a cap for England U18s.
