Glasner’s recommendation came not with the salesman’s enthusiasm Bayern were braced for, but with a caveat, and Eberl has told the club’s membership magazine 51 that this is exactly why it landed.

“When a manager says, ‘Of course, take him, take him,’ it makes you suspicious. But Glasner said, ‘He still has things to learn, and we could really use him.’ That told you he valued Michael highly,” Eberl told the magazine, as reported by Bulinews.

An Austrian back-channel to Palace

The route into that conversation ran through Christoph Freund, Bayern’s Austrian sporting director, who extended his own contract until 2029 in September. Freund knew Glasner, also Austrian, from their years in the Austrian game, which gave Bayern a direct line into the Palace dressing room before a bid was made.

Eberl said the first step in reading a player is always to speak to those who had him up close, as teammate or opponent. Glasner, who had worked with Olise daily at Selhurst Park, was the strongest witness available.

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Palace eventually sold Olise for a reported £50.8m on a five-year deal in the summer of 2024. The French winger had been chased by several European clubs, and Bayern had internal doubts to work through before pressing ahead, not least a career path that had taken Olise through several English academies before he settled at Palace.

Glasner no longer at Palace

Glasner left Crystal Palace at the end of the 2025/26 season after declining to extend his contract. Palace announced Pierre Sage as his permanent successor on 15 June 2026 on a three-year deal.

Player of the Season

The due diligence has aged well. Olise was voted the Bundesliga’s Player of the Season for 2025/26 after Bayern reclaimed the title, finishing the league campaign with 15 goals and 19 assists.

The current campaign has started in the same key. Olise has six goals and three assists in his first seven Bundesliga matches of 2026/27, including a goal and an assist in Bayern’s 6-1 home win over RB Leipzig on 17 October and another goal-and-assist double in the 3-1 away win at Freiburg eight days later.

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