Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City all had the chance to bring Michael Olise into senior soccer, but the London teams “kicked him out” of their academies, while the young talent was left “humiliated” by mocking teammates in Manchester and quit.
It was ultimately their losses. Now, Bayern Munich are reaping the rewards, with Olise among the best players in the world and a potential contender for the 2026 Ballon d’Or.
The London-born winger finished the 2025–26 season with 53 goals and assists in 52 appearances for Bayern and goes into the World Cup as a key player for pre-tournament favorite France.
Olise emerged at Reading in England’s lower leagues, before furthering his potential at Crystal Palace and then supercharging his talent following a 2024 transfer to Bayern. But Reading was the last club to get hands on Olise, picking up the pieces after Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City had him first.
Olise ‘Kicked Out’ by Premier League Giants
José Gomes was the manager at Reading who saw the potential in Olise, and even stopped him getting kicked out there, too. “Before he was 14, he was at Arsenal’s youth academy, but he didn’t adapt,” the journeyman coach told AS amid transfer links to Real Madrid.
“Chelsea kicked him out for the same reason some tried to do so at Reading: because he didn’t attend classes and didn’t pay attention to his studies.” Gomes went to bat for Olise when his Reading future—and perhaps any pro career at that stage—was in jeopardy, telling the “youth academy directors that the boy didn’t want to be a mathematician or an engineer, but a soccer player.”
Gomes also explained: “At [Manchester] City, it was because his teammates laughed at him. He had weak arms, and English boys were strong. When the fitness coach told them to do push ups, he struggled a lot, and his teammates mocked him. He felt humiliated and left.”
Olise debuted for Reading in March 2019, at age 17, having been promised a chance by Gomes if he could get through physically brutal treatment in training without quitting.
“I told my players not to hold back when it came to tackling him hard in training so he could learn what professional soccer is like. Michael complained and cried ... he didn’t understand it at the time. I told him that if he could endure a week of his teammates’ defensive actions without crying, I’d call him up. In the end, it was two weeks, and when I thought he was ready, I called him up.”
Greatness Within Reach for Olise
Olise could hardly be going to his first World Cup at a better moment. Following a monumental output for Bayern, he signed off in France’s final practice match against Northern Ireland with a hat-trick and is back on his favored right wing after spending much of 2025 and early 2026 in France’s No. 10 position. Olise’s relationship with Kylian Mbappé could be crucial.
France aims to triumph in a third World Cup in 2026, having played in four of the last seven finals since 1998 to dominate more than any other in recent history, but only winning twice.
A World Cup win is likely what Olise needs to be in genuine Ballon d’Or contention, with Harry Kane, Lamine Yamal and Ousmane Dembélé in the same boat. The tournament is expected to be the deciding factor, which counts against Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, but could equally also bring Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo back into the conversation.
