TAKING THE MICHAEL BIT SPECIAL
Big clubs are swarming around Olise
MICHAEL OLISE showed just why some of Europe’s biggest clubs are tracking his progress.
The teenage playmaker has represented France Under-18s, but is also eligible to play for England and Nigeria. Gareth Southgate should take note.
Olise, 18, created both goals for promotion-chasing Reading and glided over the turf all game, picking passes to torment 10-man Forest and delight the 2,000 fans.
It was from his free-kick that Brice Samba had his pocket picked by Tom Holmes – leading to Ryan Yates handling and being sent off after 15 minutes. Lucas Joao put away the penalty.
That ended this as a contest but Olise continued to impress, and those reported to be watching him include Liverpool, Manchester
City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Leeds and Borussia Dortmund.
But Michael Morrison, who headed home Olise’s corner in the 53rd minute to seal the three points, is praying his team-mate sticks around to help with a push for the Premier League.
Sky TV pundit and former Reading captain Matt Mills reckoned Olise could be worth as much as £ 30- 40million in a January window auction.
And centre-back Morrison, who scored his second goal of the campaign, said: “Michael is a top talent and we have to use him while we have him because I don’t think we’ll have him too long.
“I am sure there are teams looking at him already and hopefully we can keep hold of him until the end of the season.”
Royals boss Veljko Paunovic said: “Michael is a super-talented player and is delivering for the team which is very important.
“He has huge potential. We know what he is now, but we want to see what he can be. Now he needs to keep maturing, keep growing as a player maintaining consistency.
“We will help with that. He is a smart kid, humble, and learns quickly. He is surrounded by some very good players with experience of the Championship.”
Supporters were delighted to see a home win and Royals defender Tom Holmes, 20, said: “Football got some of its soul back with fans returning, and it was great to have my family here.”
Forest have scored just nine goals and must start finding the net to pull clear of relegation.
Midfielder Samba Sow said: “We need to wake up. Nobody could have seen us in this position at the start of the season.”
Rafael 7, Holmes 7, Moore 6, Morrison 7, Richards 6 (Gibson 86), Rinomhota 7, Laurent 7, Meite 7 (Semedo 74, 6), Olise 8 (Aluko 81), Ejaria 7 (Esteves 81), Joao 7 (Baldock 86) NOTTINGHAM FOREST: Samba 5, Christie 5, Ribeiro 5, McKenna 5 (Figueiredo 46, 5), Worrall 5, Yates 2, Arter 5 (Sow 59, 6), Cafu 5, Knockaert 5 (Ameobi 59, 6), Taylor 5 (Ioannou 70, 6), Lolley 5 and