The ‘astounding’ situation Crystal Palace were ‘really worried’ about after Michael Olise sale

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Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has revealed what the club were ‘really worried’ about after the departure of Michael Olise.

Olise was exceptional last season under new manager Oliver Glasner – who replaced Roy Hodgson in February.

Glasner led the Eagles away from a relegation battle and into the top half of the Premier League table for the first time in nine years.

A key reason for the team’s improvement was the form of Olise. The Frenchman provided four goals and three assists in just eight games after the Austrian’s arrival.

Palace accumulated an incredible 19 points from those games which left their fans extremely excited about the new campaign.

But, unfortunately for the South London club, Olise was sold to Bayern Munich this summer for a transfer fee of £50 million.

Here is what Palace were ‘really worried’ about on the back of the 22-year-old’s departure.

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Crystal Palace were ‘really worried’ about this situation

Even without Olise, Palace still have a very capable squad, including the likes of Adam Wharton, Jean Philippe Mateta and Marc Guehi. However, they are now heavily reliant on one player: Eberechi Eze.

And, Parish has admitted that the club were ‘really worried’ about losing the England international this summer.

“I was really worried from a club point of view of losing Michael and Ebbs in the same window and we didn’t have in Ebbs the interest that I thought we would have,” he told Sky Sports.

“I was astounded. Genuinely astounded. I mean, the guy’s just an outstanding footballer, an outstanding person.”

Palace fans will be overjoyed at the lack of interest in their star man, as it would have been a disaster to let go of both him and Olise.

Steve Parish on Marc Guehi and Joachim Andersen

Two Palace players who were sought-after in the transfer window were Guehi and Joachim Andersen.

Parish thought that Guehi – who was wanted by Newcastle – was more likely to leave, though it was Andersen who completed a £30m move to Fulham.

“I don’t think the window worked out exactly the same format that we thought it would,” the chairman added. “Maybe we thought at the beginning it would be more likely that Marc Guehi went and we kept Joachim Andersen.

“We accepted that bid [for Andersen] which then made it very difficult really to sell both of our starting centre-backs in one window.

“That’s not to say it wasn’t still an outside possibility that we got to the right number but then Chadi Riad got injured. That doesn’t look quite as bad as it seems but it still left us very light and really made it impossible for us to consider at that point.”