Guardian Nigeria
England Manager, Gareth Southgate, has indicated interest in recruiting Crystal Palace’s Michael Olise for the Three Lions after the forthcoming Euro 2024 Championship.
Olise and Eberechi Eze have been in the Super Eagles’ radar for over three years, with Nigerian, under Gernot Rohr, once inviting Eze to join the Super Eagles.
Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the 2022 World Cup hosted by Qatar pushed Eze to opt for the Three Lions for whom he has become a prominent member.Eze has been named in England’s provisional squad for the Euro 2024 and the general believe is that he is sure of making the squad.
Olise’s case is different as he is still free to play for any of Nigeria, France and England. His father is a Nigerian, while his mother is a French-Algerian, but he has lived much of his football life in England.
There were fears that France would beat Nigeria and England to the mercurial midfielder, but Didier Deschamps’ decision to leave him out of Les Blues squad to the Euros has opened doors for any of the other countries to recruit Olise to their squad.
Olise has played for France in all of the junior categories, but because he has not played for the senior team, he is still free to change allegiance to another country.
Southgate told standard.co.uk that England would be interested in recruiting him should he decide to switch his international allegiance. He admitted, however, that any switch in international allegiance would be a lengthy process, requiring a transfer of association.
“He is obviously a very good player, he hasn’t made their squad. They might be taking him to the Olympics, I don’t know.
“He is a player we should have an interest in because he is a very good player but there is no way you could do all of that in time for the Euros.”
