Chelsea, Arsenal, Everton among clubs interested in signing Nigerian Federation target

Three Premier League teams, a European super club and current French Ligue 1 champions are reportedly interested in signing Nigeria Football Federation target Michael Olise ahead of the reopening of the transfer window.

According to the online edition of The Sun UK, Crystal Palace have a fight on their hands to keep hold of Olise who is on the radar of Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Lille and Bayern Munich.

Chelsea were heavily linked with the former France U18 international last summer but missed out on his signature to Crystal Palace.

Olise has a past with Chelsea, turning out for their academy teams as a schoolboy before he was released.

The 20-year-old has earned himself a lot of admirers since the start of 2022, with a goal involvement of seven (3 goals, 4 assists) in eight appearances in all competitions.

Though Chelsea have an excellent relationship with Crystal Palace as evidenced by Conor Gallagher, Michy Batshuayi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek moving to the Eagles on loan deals in recent seasons, the Selhurst Park outfit are unlikely to sanction the sale of one of their most promising young stars.

Olise was named on the standby list for Nigeria's 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against the Republic of Benin and Lesotho and the winger remains a player of interest to the Nigerian Federation despite the sacking of Gernot Rohr who made the first move to cap-tie the Reading number 7.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel