Amidst the growing speculation over the future of Michael Olise, it has emerged that the Crystal Palace star had a trial with Tottenham as a youngster but the North London club decided against signing him at the time.
Olise’s future looks set to be one of the biggest transfer sagas of the summer after the winger’s outstanding displays for Palace last season.
The 22-year-old is understandably a wanted man across the Premier League, with reports suggesting a few months ago that Tottenham are one of the clubs who had been keeping a close eye on him and even ‘fielded an enquiry’ to the player’s representatives (HITC).
However, the speculation linking the attacker with a move to N17 has since died down, with reports over the last week or so seeming to suggest that Man Utd and Chelsea are battling it out for the player’s services (CaughtOffside).
Football.London have now dug up an interview that current Arsenal Under-21s head coach Mehmet Ali gave about Olise two years ago.
Ali, who was then in charge of Reading’s Under-23s, explained that he was at Spurs when Olise arrived on trial as a 14-year-old, with the Lilywhites deciding that the youngster was not worth taking on board at the time.
Ali told Berkshire Live in 2022 about the Palace star: “He has always been a talent. He was at Chelsea until the Under-14s and he actually went on trial to Manchester City and Tottenham, and I was at Tottenham at the time.
“You could see he was a very talented young man and with him, it was always his mindset and character to be able to cope with the top level. But as he’s getting older and maturing he’s doing that.
“The Reading Academy staff deserve so much credit. Reading took him in as an Under-14s player and did great work with him. Everyone at Reading deserves a lot of credit for helping Michael on his journey so it’s not a surprise to see him do well.
“Who’s to say if he did sign for Tottenham then would he have had the journey he’s had? Every individual is different and there is no right or wrong pathway.”
Spurs Web Opinion
While Tottenham’s decision to pass up on Olise was clearly a mistake in hindsight, it is not always easy to spot talent at such a young age as different players have completely different development trajectories, which are often not linear.
The fact that Chelsea released Olise from their academy at the time is perhaps proof that the youngster was far from the best in his age group at the time.
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