Michael Olise, the 24-year-old Bayern Munich winger who also plays for the French national team, might be the best football player in the world right now. He’s certainly one of the most talked about. And sought after. Bayern signed him in 2024 for a reported $58 million, and he’s expected to put on a dazzling performance with France in this summer’s FIFA World Cup. 

Yet he arrives at a beautiful location in Paris’s 15th arrondissement — an area that’s residential in the way that suggests someone's grandmother lives nearby and makes excellent soup — with just two other people. Not handlers, not publicists, not the small army that typically accompanies players of his caliber. Just two humans.

Olise is introduced to Juergen Teller, the legendary German image-maker who happens to be a devoted Bayern Munich supporter. Olise nodded at him politely, then warmly shakes his hand, which seems to be how he greets most situations. Teller is visibly excited and starts talking about the prior week’s Champions League defeat. Olise’s team had lost to Paris Saint-Germain in what most observers describe as the best football match of the last decade. 

Olise is wearing black, which is less a color choice than a worldview. His style is daring, bold, and different. It’s not flashy in the way athletes often are but confident in the way of someone who has figured out what he likes and simply wears it. He doesn’t need external approval, and this, paradoxically, is what makes him interesting to look at.

His energy is easy, upbeat even. After meeting Teller, he conducts a wider round of handshakes. He chooses clothes. He FaceTimes Billz, a stylist friend, holding up a jacket to the camera and asking, “Is it rinsed?” The friend says no. The jacket stays.

Then, Olise sits down and waits for the questions to begin. Questions about chess and philosophy and what it feels like when an industry mistakes your silence for coldness, your calm for arrogance, your disinterest in content for a lack of personality. Football wants noise. Olise gives them nothing. The game has not yet learned that this is the point.

I’ve read every interview he’s done — all four of them. I’ve watched the videos wherein journalists ask him to discuss a goal he scored, and he responds with the verbal equivalent of a shrug: “Shot. Scored.” That sort of thing. The internet had decided he is mysterious, nonchalant, an enigma wrapped in long sleeves and color-coordinated boots. But the man who sits across from me has an easy energy. He laughs. He thinks about questions before answering them, which is rare enough to be notable. He is not mysterious. He simply doesn’t see the point in saying anything that he does not mean. When I ask about his social-media strategy — he hardly follows anyone and only posts occasionally — he explains it like this: “If I want to post, I post. If I don’t, I don’t. It’s purely organic.” 

Here’s what I know going in: Olise was born in London to a Nigerian father and a Franco-Algerian mother. He played for Chelsea and Manchester City academies before he turned fifteen while also representing France at a youth level. He rebuilt his career from amateur football, then Reading, then Crystal Palace before being transferred to Bayern.

Later today, he will receive the UNFP award for Best French Player Abroad, which is like graduating magna cum laude from Harvard. He does not mention this. I only know because someone tells me in passing, the way you might mention that traffic was light on the way over. His speech will be short  — perfunctory, almost: “My objective this season was to win everything with France and Bayern. That’s it.” 

Take me back to the beginning. When did football start for you?

I started at six years old at my local team in West London. Then maybe Islington for a bit. Chelsea from seven until fourteen. A little time at Man City. Reading for three years, where I broke through. Palace for another three years. Now Bayern. It has been football my whole life.

Your younger brother, Richard, is at Chelsea now. What do you tell him about navigating that?

We never talk about football to be honest. We are both in it so much. We talk about life. When you have a setback, take it as a lesson. Use it as time to grow. Someone always has something worse than what you are experiencing. There is no time to complain. Digest what happened, then move on.

You have a tattoo in Japanese that says kaizen, which translates to, “Each day a little more.” What was the inspiration for the piece?

It came from a conversation at the training ground at Palace. One of the coaches was talking about kaizen. Afterward, I looked into it. The idea of improving every day, little by little, until you reach a certain level. I relate to that philosophy.

What distinguishes players at that “certain level?”

The small details. That one or two percent extra can help in a specific situation on the pitch. Trying to improve all the time is the main goal.

Your coach, Vincent Kompany, has called you cerebral. He’s also said that everything seems to slow down for you on the pitch. Do you experience it that way?

Maybe my play style gives the impression that things slow down. But when I am on the pitch, I do not know if things are slowing down. It is muscle memory. I play mostly through instinct.

You don’t celebrate much. Even after spectacular goals, you seem unmoved while everyone around you is screaming. What is happening internally in those moments?

I am not a super emotional person. I don’t react the same way everyone else reacts.

You could have played for Nigeria, Algeria, England, or France. You chose France. Why?

The players I followed when I was young were French: Zidane, Thierry Henry, Ribéry. And I always came to France when I was young. It felt more natural.

Your mom is French-Algerian. She always spoke French to you, and you answered in English. Do you argue in French or English now?

Now, we speak French pretty much all the time. And we don’t argue.

If you had to live in one city forever, football aside, which would it be?

London. When I’m in London, I feel at home.

You’ve said that playing in the Olympics was the best footballing experience of your life. What made it different?

It is hard to compare club football with the National team. First, it was in France. We had home support. As a footballer, you don’t really get to play at the Olympics. Playing with players I grew up through the ranks with. The coaches. Thierry Henry. It was a great experience.

You lost to PSG in the Champions League semifinal. When does a loss like that stop replaying in your head?

It starts replaying from the minute the whistle blows. You take time to digest. You learn what to do better. Then, you move on. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Don’t dwell on it, but grow from it. Not just, “Okay, we lost,” but, “Why? What did I do?” 

Who dresses best in your locker room?

At Bayern, Jonathan Tah. For France, I would say Hugo Ekitike.

Whose style do you admire?

A$AP Rocky was the first one I noticed. After that, I don’t really know. I don’t really follow trends.

What’s your phone wallpaper right now?

Bugs Bunny with some cash. And a blunt instrument. And a gun in his pocket. (Laughs.)

What did you listen to on the way here?

Travis Scott’s “Days Before Rodeo.” 

You once ranked your favorite rappers and put Playboi Carti at the top. There’s footage of you bringing a speaker playing Carti’s music into training. What about him resonates with you?

I’ve been listening to him since I was young. I seem to always go back to his music. I also like Dave and my friend Terio.

You play chess seriously. What’s your current rating?

Around 1400. It goes from 1300 to 1400. I’m trying to get to 1500. Chess is difficult.

Who was the last person to beat you at chess?

Jamal Musiala. He is not as good as I am, but he beat me. I was not concentrating properly.

Are you freakishly good at anything else besides football?

Ping pong. And cricket. My dad was a national cricket player for Nigeria.

Are you a sore loser?

It depends on who I’m playing against. I never want to lose to my little brother. Or my mom.

What is she better at than you?

She’s very good at cards. She was the one who introduced me to chess when I was younger. And... life experience. She’s always sending me quotes and stuff. Things I might think of myself but that no one ever really speaks to me about. She reinforces some... balance. Some grounding.