Michael Olise’s debut season has Bayern Munich fans dreaming of Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery - ‘A worthy successor’
Published 07/04/2025 at 11:01 GMT+1
Michael Olise’s mega-money move to Bayern Munich from Crystal Palace in the summer of 2024 was one of the biggest transfers of the summer as the German giants looked to respond to losing the Bundesliga title to Bayer Leverkusen. As we come to the end of his first season in Munich, Pete Sharland looks at the stellar performances of the French winger.
'Can be as good as anyone' - Hargreaves hails Olise for making ‘huge jump’ from Palace to Bayern
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Over the past few years. German giants Bayern Munich have been engaged in a long-term plan to replace legendary wingers Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery.
This started in some vein when both were still on the team, but Bayern realised they would have their work cut out given they were likely to lose two of the best players in their illustrious history at a similar point.
Douglas Costa, Kingsley Coman, Serge Gnabry and Leroy Sane have all been signed for a combined fee of over £100 million. Sadio Mane and Mathys Tel were also brought in, albeit with the idea they might play as central strikers. And realistically, when we entered the transfer window in the summer of 2024, Bayern were no closer to having a long-term answer they could feel good about.
And this was frustrating, because in the middle of the attack they were set. Jamal Musiala is the present and future of this Bayern team, whilst Harry Kane remains one of the best strikers in the world, even if he was never going to be a long-term solution.
But, out of the gloom that is the frustration with the aforementioned players, came the shining light, in the shape of French winger Michael Olise.
Olise’s move to Bayern was perhaps a bit of a surprise; it had been expected he might go to Paris Saint-Germain or one of the big clubs in England, but for both parties involved, it has proven to be an absolute masterstroke. After proving that he had outgrown Crystal Palace, he has now shown that he more than deserves to be at the highest level, and be considered as one of the best wingers in the world right now.
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Olise hammers stunning effort past Schmeichel to give Bayern lead
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In his first season at Bayern, Olise has so far scored 13 goals and registered 13 assists across all competitions, for a combined goals + assists tally of 26. Combined, Sane, Gnabry and Coman have been at Bayern for 22 seasons, including this current campaign. Over that period, they have had three seasons with 25 or more combined G+A: Sane in 2021-22 where he got 28 and Gnabry’s incredible 2019-20 season where he got to 33 plus his 2022-23 season where he also got 28..
With at least eight games to go across those two competitions, Olise should absolutely get past Sane and he could even get to Gnabry. In his first season, coming to a new country where he does not speak the language.
"He made a good impression really fast," explains Eurosport Germany’s Florian Bogner, who admits that a lot of people in Germany were not too aware of Olise when he arrived.
"The most impressive thing about Olise was his ability to adapt to the style of play at Bayern in a very smooth and easy way.
"Coming to Bayern as a foreigner is never easy, in his case, also with a high transfer fee, but low prominence within Germany was potentially a dangerous mixture.
"But he definitely made the best of it, shining from the start, showing everybody that he is ‘Bayern material’. His character seems to be really calm, almost too calm sometimes, maybe! He doesn’t give long answers, but he definitely comes across as a smart guy."
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Here’s what TNT Sports expert and former Bayern midfielder Owen Hargreaves said after Bayern beat Celtic in February.
"He could be as good as anyone if he wants to," Hargreaves said on TNT Sports.
"First time in the Champions League as well, it's a huge jump from Crystal Palace. He did brilliantly there, but to jump into a team like Bayern Munich - credit to him.
"He's got some brilliant competition there; Sane, Koman, Gnabry, Musiala - really top players.
"But he has a calmness in front of goal, which is really unique, and I think he suits this Bayern Munich team beautifully. He plays in on that right, comes in on that left."
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It is still unclear how big a say new Bayern manager Vincent Kompany had in the signing of Olise (compared to how hard former manager Thomas Tuchel pushed for Harry Kane) with Bogner saying: "Kompany was convinced of Olise’s qualities because he knew him from the Premier League, that’s for sure, and he convinced him in the final stages of the transfer to come to Bayern.
"Internally, Kompany might have given the last push for triggering the buyout clause for Olise, to invest this huge sum of money. And he was right to do so."
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One thing that is clear is that the Belgian loves what his new winger brings.
Earlier in 2025 he said of Olise: "Michael is a ‘cerebral’ player, he’s a thinker. He thinks a lot and questions everything. He enjoys football and works hard.
"The most important thing I see in him is that he’s obsessed with work. We have more players who want to learn more. That gives us energy. He is one of those players who always wants to improve."
Across Europe’s top five leagues, Olise is 14th in terms of dribbles completed, econd in expected assists and third in terms of big chances created, per Opta. Of course, his numbers are going to inflate playing for a team like Bayern, who are dominating in the Bundesliga title race this season, but not every player who makes the move to a club this size sees their numbers rise accordingly.
Olise hammers stunning effort past Schmeichel to give Bayern lead
Video credit: TNT Sports
It is undeniably early, but already you can tell Olise is reaching levels that Bayern fans have not seen for many years.
"He already has established himself as number one on the wings," says Bogner. "Surpassing the other three quite early in the season.
"He is more efficient than Sane and seems to be less injury-prone than Gnabry and Coman. For the first time, you really have the feeling that he could be a worthy successor of Robben at Bayern on that right side. And he has scored similar goals like him already. But there’s still a looooong way to go and big boots to fill."
In previous years, the news that Musiala would be missing a game like Inter would be a devastating, possibly fatal, blow for Bayern. It is still a huge loss, but the performances of Olise (albeit in a different position) give Bayern another way to be dangerous. And he’s only just getting started.
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