RMC reveals: Why Oliseh, who has never lived in France for a long time, chose the French team

Michael Olise is a special existence. In the international match day in September, the Bayern big nugget was finally called up by Deschamps, but he has never lived in France for a long time.

RMC reveals why Olise is so determined to play for the French national team - let's take a look.

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Complex four-country ancestry

As we all know, Michael Olise was born in London on December 12, 2001. His father is Nigerian and his mother is French-Algerian.

Therefore, the young Oliseh has the possibility to join four different national teams: England, Algeria, Nigeria and France.

Mother's French background & Gunners and Blues experience

Olisei's mother is a little mysterious, but the French Football Association may have to thank this low-key mother.

According to previous information from the English media, Oliseh's mother is a fan of Professor Arsene Wenger and Arsenal, which also makes Oliseh have genes from both France and Britain.

It should be pointed out that Oliseh's first team in his career was Arsenal - he played for Arsenal U7-U8 in the 2008-09 season and often went to Arsenal Hale End Youth Training Camp for invitational friendly matches.

For Oliseh's mother, it is undoubtedly a wish to put Oliseh in the game against Arsenal, the team she likes very much.

As a Londoner, Olise grew up in the suburbs of the British capital. He then left Arsenal and joined the youth training camp of Chelsea, another London giant, where he spent five years, but was abandoned for disciplinary reasons.

Of course, Olise has always had a close relationship with Chelsea. Let's not talk about his seven years at Chelsea, or his transfer soap opera that is close to returning to Chelsea in the summer of 2023. Just talk about his younger brother Richard Olise, who is currently playing for Chelsea U21.

Let's talk about Olise's mother and Olise. English is undoubtedly Olise's mother tongue, but Olise's French level is not bad either-although there is no language environment, Olise can basically express himself in not so fluent French, understand French, and has also received French courses.

According to L'Equipe, Oliseh's mother also instilled French culture in him - L'Equipe previously stated that Oliseh admired French-speaking or French-Chelsea legends such as Drogba and Anelka, and in his spare time, Oliseh also liked to choose Paris Saint-Germain in the game.

Olisei is naturally familiar with the feats of the Gallic roosters' two major championships in 1998 and 2000, and his home is full of game videos - even though he was not born at that time. "Henry, Zidane and Deschamps are the players I admire."

Coincidentally, Henry worked well with Oliseh in the Olympic team and even relied on Oliseh to reach the final, while Deschamps will be Oliseh's future coach in the national team.

Dream come true

"I am in awe of his desire to play for the French team," said legendary Thierry Henry, who served as the coach of the French Olympic football team this summer.  

"Michael could have played with England at the Euros, but he decided to play with France at the Olympics. We talk about the lack of belief and desire among players now, but Michael was an 'anomaly' and his dream was to play with France. I am very honored by this," said the former Arsenal and France legendary striker.

In fact, Southgate, Belmadi (former Algeria coach) and Rohr (former Nigeria coach) all invited Oliseh, but his heart belonged to France.

Before participating in his first press conference with the French team, Oliseh expressed his feelings in front of the camera on the French team's YouTube channel, of course in French: "I am very happy to be here, this is my first time with the International A team. (...) I hope this is the beginning of a special path, which I have dreamed of since I was a child."