England U21 boss gives his verdict on Michael Olise pledging allegiance to France

BY ANDREW MCSTEEN

England U21 manager Lee Carsley has give his reaction to Crystal Palace midfielder Michael Olise pledging his international allegiance to France.

The 20-year-old was called up to Sylvain Ripoll’s French U21 squad this week.

His decision to stick with France, who capped him at U18 level, appears to end any discussion about him representing the other three countries he is eligible for – Nigeria, Algeria and England.

“I definitely wouldn’t ask Patrick [Vieira] to ask him to play for England, I don’t think it would go down well,” said a smiling Carsley when asked by the South London Press what the process was in approaching Olise.

“We made Crystal Palace and the player aware that we were interested [and asked] is it something that you will consider? He chose to go to France, which is his prerogative and as a dual nationality person myself, you’ve got that right.”

Carsley, who was born in England but played internationally for Ireland, revealed he had been watching Olise, who signed from Reading for the Eagles last summer, for a number of years.

“I’ve been aware of him for a while and watched a lot of his Reading games,” he explained. “These players don’t burst on to the scene. From our point of view we’ve been aware of him for two, three, four years – right from U15s all the way through.

“We made it known that we are interested in him potentially coming into the U21 squad because of the form he’s showed at Palace. He’s in a position now where he can push the players that we’ve got. In the past, maybe 12 months ago, the players that were in front of him were probably ahead of him in terms of the level they were playing at and the form that they were showing.

“We can’t make any guarantees, but it would have been great to have him around the squad and put him in a position where it could show Gareth [Southgate] from an England point of view what you can do and potentially move up.

“Gareth often speaks about there’s two ways to get into the senior team: play well at your club or play well for the 21s. He’s doing well at his club and it would have been nice to see him play for England but he’s made his change.

“It would have been great to have him with us. I wish him the best of luck and hope he does well.”

Olise, who was Championship Player of the Year last season for Reading, has scored four times this season in 25 appearances, including a sensational strike and assist against Millwall in the Eagles’ FA Cup third round victory.