During his loan spell at Blackburn Rovers in the 2020/21 season, Liverpool youngster Harvey Elliott shined. Elliott scored seven goals and set up 11 more for Tony Mowbray’s side in his debut season of regular men’s play.
He performed so well, in fact, that when he returned to Liverpool for pre-season the following summer, he was already in Jürgen Klopp’s plans for the first team.
Elliott, on the other hand, wasn’t the most impressive adolescent talent in that second tier at the time. Instead, Reading’s Michael Olise was voted the Championship’s Young Player of the Season after matching his counterpart’s goal total but adding one more assist.
Olise, who was also named to the PFA Team of the Year, piqued the interest of Liverpool as well as a slew of other major European clubs including Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Napoli, and Monaco (via TeamTalk).
But, in the end, the Frenchman signed for Crystal Palace, and he’s looked like a huge coup for the Eagles ever since.
He’s only scored four goals in 63 Premier League outings, but he’s also set up a respectable 16 goals. His 11 assists last season rated him joint-third in the league, after only Mohamed Salah (12) and Kevin de Bruyne (16), and seventh in Europe’s big five leagues overall.
Olise was also in the top 10 for predicted assisted goals (8.7), indicating that he was creating high-quality chances rather than depending solely on exceptional finishing.
He’s earned seven caps for France under-21s, making the squad for last month’s European Championships, and appears like a safe bet to play for the senior side in the near future after establishing himself as one of the league’s finest emerging prospects.
Indeed, Olise was awarded the Player’s Player of the Season at Selhurst Park, which comes as no surprise given comments like this from teammate Joel Ward.
“Michael’s a special talent,” he stated, according to football.london. “The world is his oyster, and he’s just getting better and better from game to game, so I believe he’ll reach new heights and raise the bar.” If he keeps going like this, he’ll do great things.
“They [Olise and teammate Eberechi Eze] certainly make my life easier when I can just pass the ball to them and they go and do their magic!”
Olise has been so excellent that Chelsea and Manchester City have both nominated him as a summer transfer target, sensing the possibility for a massive bargain given the player’s $45 million (£35 million/€40 million) release clause (via Fabrizio Romano).
According to RMC Sport, Chelsea has already made an offer worth more than that — $50 million (£39 million/€45 million) — in a bid to beat Manchester City.
Is there a case to be made for Liverpool re-entering the competition and competing with that offer? It’s worth noting that Olise would be a very different type of winger than Salah.
Yes, he’s a one-on-one threat like the Egyptian, finishing 10th in the league in successful take-ons (54 last season), but he’s more of a wide creator than a wide scorer.
This is shown in his 242 attempted crosses in 2022/23, which is second only to Trent Alexander-Arnold’s (252) and Newcastle United’s Kieran Trippier (195).
If Olise does join, he will be tagged as Salah’s long-term successor, and it is a move that will see Liverpool adapt, transferring the goalscoring load away from the winger and onto a well-supplied number nine like Darwin Nunez.
One thing to emphasize is that he won’t be able to make an instant impact, with manager Roy Hodgson ruling him out for the foreseeable future after undergoing surgery for a’serious’ hamstring injury (via Evening Standard).
While initial projections predicted he could be out for up to three months (via The Athletic), it is a delay that could be swiftly forgotten if he lives up to his potential.
Liverpool, of course, has showed an interest in Olise’s teammate Cheick Doucouré, who is reputedly valued at $90 million (£70 million/€81 million) as it looks to fill a vacancy at number six (via The Mail).
Perhaps it’s worth the Reds considering a daring double raid and repairing the error of failing to sign Olise a couple of years ago.