England step up the pressure on Super Eagles target Michael Olise as World Cup looms

CRYSTAL Palace playmaker Michael Olise has come under severe pressure from England manager Gareth Southgate of late as he wants him to pledge his international future at senior level to his country of birth instead of Nigeria.

Olise, 20, is a talented mercurial playmaker who offers a lot of creativity, which has brought him to the attention of several national teams. Born in England to a Nigerian father and French mother of Algerian extraction, Olise is qualified to play for four different nations and a tug of war for his services has begun.

Nigeria is very keen on the youngster but so too is Algeria, who are trying to use his Algerian girlfriend to woo the midfielder. Olise, who grew up in France has already played for the French youth team but Mr Southgate is keen in getting him to play for England as the 2022 World Cop looms.

A former Chelsea schoolboy, Olise has featured for France at the U18 level but since then, the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) and the Algerian Football Association have been on his case. Now, the English Football Association have held preliminary talks with Olise but he is apparently in no rush to decide on his international future.

In the past, the NFF has successfully wooed players eligible to play for England including the likes of Ola Aina, Victor Moses, Josh Maja, Joe Aribo and Alex Iwobi to play for the Super Eagles. Olise is having fine first season at Crystal Palace at the moment and has been linked with possible moves to Chelsea, Arsenal and Lille in the summer.