25 Mar 2026 10:54:04
With us linked to Olise, his stats for last season and this season are the following.
24/25
Played 55
Scored 20
Assisted 23
25/26
Played 39
Scored 16
Assisted 27
Apparently his value is €140m but Bayern want to get €172m.
25 Mar 2026 11:45:12
His stats are great, but he is just not the right type of player for us at all. When Wirtz gets his head up, he needs runners off the ball. Olise will constantly be coming short to collect it, and trying to create in the half space between the defence and midfield. Exactly like Salah does now, his legs have gone, and he can't run in behind or beat a full back. We need to build a functional team, not a team of individuals. Rio looks good because he's exactly what we need to bring more balance to the side, not because he's already a good player.
He's 17, and if you actually watch him, his execution and decision making is nowhere near the levels needed. We're still a better team with him on the pitch than not, though.
If Olise signs, I'll back him to the hilt and hope he finds a way to dovetail with Wirtz and Isak. Just feels like the wrong player to me, though. Great player for sure, but not what we need.
25 Mar 2026 11:48:13
Insane money, but I do think he's the only one out there capable of filling Mo's boots right now. Diomande is very promising, but he's only a kid, having his first good season right now. I don't see him as a ready replacement for Mo. He's also right footed and can play from the left, which is where I would prefer to have him. I think we need to sign both as we literally have nobody capable on the wings right now.
Yes, Rio is promising, but he's a kid and his end product needs a lot of work. Frimpong is also promising, but he's nowhere near Mo's level. He was brought in as RB and that's where he needs to be played. Chiesa, nuff said. And Gakpoo... When you think of the fact that we had Salah, Bobby and Mane in a front three. We are miles off it. Serious investment must be made come Summer.
25 Mar 2026 12:22:23
Mks, I've always seen Olise (very good player, btw) as a wide 10 who likes the ball at his feet out wide to come short and create. Kind of like Cou was when he played on the left when we were on the come-up under Klopp.
To me, he ain't a wide player like Salah, Mane or even Diaz is, guys who are runners that get in behind and create/score goals, his stats be damned.
Like you, I'm not sure he is the profile we need if, indeed, we are looking at Klopp-like wide players, for ex.
25 Mar 2026 12:38:23
Maybe Xabi wants him to play in a 3-4-2-1. ?
25 Mar 2026 12:46:50
Have to agree with MK here, we don't need somebody to replace Salah's goals and assists necessarily because Isak, Ekitike and Wirtz are there for that.
We need complementary pieces to what we already have, wide players who can beat their man for pace or skill, and can create dangerous situations for our 9 to finish. Diomande is the right kind of profile for what we need.
That being said, I did imagine that Salah was going to reproduce his form from last year playing as a right sided 10 like he did last year, with Wirtz on the other side causing havoc and our 9 mopping up whatever easy chances came their way. So maybe that's the thinking, with two withdrawn 'wingers' and the fullbacks providing the width.
25 Mar 2026 12:51:52
I completely agree, Oli. A left-footed Coutinho is actually not a bad comparison at all. I feel I should keep reiterating that I do not think for one second that Olise is a bad player. I think he's bloody brilliant. I just don't think you need Olise and Wirtz in the same team; and Wirtz works harder. Olise will score goals because he's got a wand of a left foot, but you're right in that he won't be running in behind or hugging the touchline. Nor will he be pressing.
I look at it mainly from the perspective of Isak, and needing to get the best out of the £125m CF we've signed, but also Wirtz and needing to get the best out of the £116m AM we've signed. Isak thrived on wingers like Gordon and Murphy running at the full backs and driving the ball across, so Isak himself could run across the front or off the back of the CBs to poach goals inside 6-12 yards. Whenever I've watched Bayern, Olise is not doing that. He's coming inside and either floating crosses into Kane (who is strong enough to make the most of that) or fizzing passes into Kane's feet (which again he is strong enough to back into the CBs and either roll them or play a give and go under pressure).
Wirtz thrived at Bayer Leverkusen because every time he got his head up, Grimaldo and Frimpong were bursting in behind or down the wing. When Wirtz gets his head up in our team, Gakpo and Salah are both running towards him or stood wide and deep because they want it to feet so they can try and cut inside.
Kane was the ideal set up at Bayern for him. If you think about his best years at Spurs it was with Eriksen on the RW and Son on the LW. Son to give him a selfless runner off his shoulder, and Eriksen who could thread an eye of the needle pass/cross into him. Diaz and Olise are his new Son and Eriksen; Diaz the selfless runner and Olise the magician to find a pass into him. A good sporting director/manager will set the team up around their main goal threat. We simply have not done that for Isak so even when he is fit, I'm not anticipating him to change our season miraculously unless Rio and Frimpong start playing LW and RW, because their style of play is what Isak wants. But then are they actually good enough to play week in week out as wingers in the Premier league?
25 Mar 2026 12:53:24
So confused by this site. on one hand, people think Slot is the problem but then on the other hand, our players are terrible and serious investment is required.again.
Gakpo is terrible, Rio is young, Salah's legs have gone (and he's literally gone in the summer), we have no CDM, Konate is useless, Virgil is past it, we have no true RB, our GK is always injured, our LB is clueless, Wirtz is weak, Macca spends more time on the ground than on his feet.on and on.
If Slot is working with this bad a team, then why is he at fault? Now I know the next thing coming will be "Slot made them all terrible with his awful system and lack of conditioning".
Which brings me back to my first point - is it bad players or a bad coach??? If it's Slot, then stop having a go at the players until we see what a proper coach can do. If it's the players, then lay off Slot for a bit. But I don't see how it can be both.
Do we need to upgrade in certain areas, of course. For me, the priorities are to replace Salah; replace Macca; replace Konate; then assess who else leaves and whether or not their minutes can be filled with someone from the squad or a kid from the academy. We don't need an overhaul.
25 Mar 2026 12:38:47
MK, OilRed, pure drivel lads, give it over.
"Not the kind of player to create/score goals"
OilRed, Right yeah, cause 40+ goals & assists in his last 2 seasons just doesn't count. I thought Florian was the only one talking nonsense on here.
25 Mar 2026 13:19:31
That kettle's back out, I see, Chewy.
25 Mar 2026 13:30:49
Chewy, you get very rude and obnoxious when people don't agree with you, don't you. This isn't the first time you've lashed out. You can always block me if you don't like my drivel? Look, I like Olise, I think he's very good and maybe even world class. I just don't think he compliments Wirtz, Ekitike and Isak. In my mind if we pay circa £150m for Olise we just have a £450m front 4 that don't really compliment each other. Olise and Isak do not press at all, and Ekitike is pretty average at pressing, so I think that makes us easy to cut through.
None of them offer blistering pace or directness to get at a full back either, which means a low block will still be a problem for us. The balance just looks off to me, at least on paper. You could always explain how/why you think that front 4 will work, instead of just throwing personal insults about. Maybe you'll change my mind.
25 Mar 2026 14:15:12
Chewy, throwing out insults makes you look and sound weak. Sad for you.
For me, Olise is a bloody good footballer (don't need stats to prove any of that) however, he has to fit the way we want to play and if he doesn't then, his stats mean nothing, IMO.
Now you can always try to argue your case against my opinion like a grown up rather than engage in childish, weak-toast insults BUT clearly that is not your strength, based on your own words.
Again, sad for you
25 Mar 2026 14:31:30
And look up the definition of personal insult, will you.
25 Mar 2026 14:49:20
Chewy, in your reliable eagerness to insult and mock others who you imagine to have a different view from your own, you somehow neglected to read Oli's post properly. He clearly said he isn't the kind of player 'to get in behind and score goals', and rather that he likes to come short to score and assist.
The kind of player he wants is one that stays wide or runs in behind the defense ala Sadio and the Mo of yesteryear.
Of course, you're going to come at me now, it's fine though because I expect it from you going forward. Would prefer if we were nicer to each other though.
25 Mar 2026 14:58:26
"Insult and mock" by saying the word drivel?! You lot are something else, knickers well and truly in a twist over nothing.
25 Mar 2026 15:33:53
Not a fan of Olise.
Too lazy, not an 'Alonso player' in my opinion.
Let's sign players who are prepared to work hard?
25 Mar 2026 14:26:49
MK Scouser, rude and obnoxious? Hold on to your handbag lad will you?! Because I said stop talking drivel, which you were clearly doing, that makes me rude and obnoxious?! My own grandmother woldn't call that rude and obnoxious for crying out loud. Get a grip mate, this site is for rumours and banter, if you can't handle somebody casually challenging your opinion I suggest taking up a hobby that presents less opposition, like crosswords.
Balance is the key, not everything works season after season, in spite of Slot's overuse of the excuse, there has been a large shift to a low block this year and constant pressing from the front line when not in possession is not always the solution, we actually started the season off doing that, we were getting pulled out of position and with our weak midfield the opposition was walking through the park, yes, your right, that does make us easy to cut thorugh, if we let it. Everyone just thinks the gegenpress is the gold standard because of Klopp and how he used it, but it's not the only effective tactic.
Look at City and how they dealt with Arsenal, absolutely no pressing from forward positions, forcing Arsenal to play through an overly condensed midfield or go long, they looked clueless, City completely shut them down. It's a tactic I suggested we employ back in December. Anyway, I'm not going to get into a discussion on tactics because any good manager should have a whole range of them in all sorts of variations at his disposal, and no one single approach is the ultimate solution.
But telling me you don't want the best RW in the world right now because you don't think he's very good at pressing is a load of nonsense. As if the ability to press outweighs 40+ g/a a season, come off it.
25 Mar 2026 14:44:33
Oh and Florian, settle down, mate. because I know for a fact you ain't talking considering your record when it comes to talking utter bollocks on this forum this season.
Like I said, settle down.
25 Mar 2026 15:49:30
Chewy, your lack of self awareness is hilarious. Your responses genuinely make it sound like you've fully lost your head whilst myself, Florian, Oli and Patrik are just pretty calmly talking about football. I've asked quite politely for you to explain how/why you think Olise will work with our current attackers and so far you've come back with nothing that adds value to the discussion. You've just insulted me and Oli by saying we're talking drivel, then followed that up by saying that along with Florian, the three of us talk nonsense on this site, then really gone for broke with a classic sexist remark about twisted knickers aimed at Patrik!
Can you not see how this looks like 4 grown ups enjoying talking about football and one angry little kid shouting at us all to stop having a good time?
25 Mar 2026 17:14:56
I haven't seen enough of Olise to have an opinion one way or the other, but he's certainly hot property at the moment. My query, though, is about Diomande, is he not meant to be our number 1 target and us his? I haven't seen enough of him either, so I could not compare one with the other. Just looking for others' opinions on him.
25 Mar 2026 17:21:50
Having two players that don't press (Isak, Olise) and one that has a massive amount to learn in that regard (Ekitike) leading the line is not good for any team. We already saw what happened when you put Isak and Salah together in the front line this season.
City didn't press Arsenal from the front because they knew Kepa wouldn't be able to progress the ball the way Raya does, and White and Hincapie are hardly very dangerous players for him to get the ball to anyway. It worked for that game, they're hardly going to do the same thing every game.
Our front press has honestly been crap this season, so not sure why you think it was more aggressive at the beginning of the season.
The pattern this season has been a half hearted front press from two of the forward players (or Dom plus one forward player, with Salah not involved and Gakpo retreating to make a plus one in defence), and everybody else retreating to a mid block.
Once the crap front press is bypassed, the midfield and defenders don't push up, retreat, and allow the opposition midfield time to pick a pass. There's always a massive gap between the front press and the midfield line. It's not simply that we have a 'weak midfield'. A good deal of the problem is tactical.
The best games we've played this season have been with a high press, with the entire team pushing up, Konate pushing up to engage the midfielders, and, because the players are so much closer together, we can swarm the opposition when we lose the ball. To me, this is evidently still the most reliable way to create dangerous opportunities for us.
25 Mar 2026 17:31:37
With respect, how do we know how we want to play, when we don't know who our new manager is going to be? Regards to Olise, I can't see us splashing that much cash out on one player, this summer, anyway. I'd be chuffed if we were to get him, though.
25 Mar 2026 17:58:24
Olired, are you off your tablets or something? How the duck did I get brought into that? The only interaction I had in this entire thread was with Chewy who brought me into it outa nowhere. I responded to him in jest. I certainly had no interaction with you. This place gets crazier by the day. ?
25 Mar 2026 18:00:31
Good point, Rome. If Xabi did come in, we could be playing wingbacks and Dom and Wirtz in behind Isak/Ekitike as double 10's for all we know.
25 Mar 2026 19:26:52
Olise has fantastic numbers in the Bundesliga. So did Sancho, Bellingham and others. Wouldn't take a chance on him.
25 Mar 2026 19:28:02
I'm actually siding with Florian for a change, Chap did nothing. You's lot are something else. Throwing false accusations around like confetti.
25 Mar 2026 19:51:39
Florian, think Oli and Chewy have both lost their heads now. Not sure how we got to this haha.
25 Mar 2026 19:51:48
Starseeker, Olise's record was decent when he was at Palace. Certainly good enough for Bayern to buy him. We bought Wirtz on the back of him having a good record in the Bundesliga.
25 Mar 2026 20:26:44
We could use another Wirtz type for him to play. If we've got likes of Ekitike / Isak up front, Frimpong/Kerkez bombing forward, a more dynamic LW, and runners like Dom from midfield, then I absolutely think we cannot have an Olise type in type team.
It's less likely that we are going to run past teams anyways. So we need to pass and trick our way through the defense.
25 Mar 2026 22:14:42
Me neither, Mk. Ah, not to worry, people are stressed. ?
26 Mar 2026 08:25:14
Geez, my post is a mess lol.
Olise would fit fine in our team alongside Wirtz.