Former Barcelona and Arsenal winger, Thierry Henry, has confirmed that Crystal Palace winger, Michael Apovie Olise will not play for the Super Eagles of Nigeria, Soccernet.ng reports.
The 22-year-old is one of football’s brightest entertainers, dazzling with skills and aura whenever he has the ball at his feet, but his international future had been up in the air for a while.
Olise was born in Hammersmith, London, to a Nigerian father and a French-Algerian mother, making him eligible to represent England, France, Algeria and Nigeria.
The former Reading winger played through the ranks at Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal before joining Crystal Palace. He also played for the French team at youth level, and has now pitched his tent with Les Bleus, shunning England, Nigeria and Algeria.
Speaking at a press conference, Thierry Henry, who has been tasked with the responsibility of leading the French Football team at the Paris 2024 Olympics confirmed that Olise, who has recently agreed to join Bayern Munich, will play for France.
“We know that he has plenty of possibilities but he wants to play for France. You have to highlight his desire to show that he wants to play for the French team. If he was English, he would have already left to play for England. He could have made the other choice and played the Euros with the England team, like his team-mate Eberechi Eze at Crystal Palace but he wants to play for France, knowing that he wouldn’t play in the Euros,” the 2009 UEFA Champions League winner said in quotes revealed by JOE UK.
This statement came after England manager, Gareth Southgate confirmed that the English FA were monitoring the player, who was left out of Didier Deschamps EURO 2024 squad, only to be snapped up by Thierry Henry for the Olympics.
Olise, alongside Eberechi Eze, are of Nigerian descent but chose to represent other nations. Eze is currently on international duty with England at the EURO 2024 tournament.