‘Best player England has developed’: Olise’s rise from Hayes to the World Cup

One of the Bayern and France playmaker’s early coaches tells the story of how a move to Reading kickstarted a career If Michael Olise wins the World Cup , there will be a corner of a Hayes housing estate that is for ever France. It is Olise’s corner, a scrap of parkland grass among the west London suburban homes where a seven-year-old practised his football with his brother, Richard. “Football in these conditions, it’s just freedom,” Olise told L’Équipe last month. “It’s not really learning in the strict sense. It was simply the pleasure of playing football. I just loved it.” Sean Conlon, one

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