Crystal Palace Wages
Chelsea news as the Blues were given a taste of what they were lacking in their Stamford Bridge victory over the Eagles, 2-1.
In the transfer window, Chelsea has nearly always gotten what they wanted since Todd Boehly joined more than 18 months ago. Even though teams like Liverpool were vying for the signatures of players like Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia, they were still able to capture nearly every player with whom they had been strongly linked.
Chelsea was nevertheless able to get the two in the summer despite the intense competition. Both Christopher Nkunku and Enzo Fernandez were acquired, and after successful campaigns, European heavyweights were also snooping around.
However, Michael Olise has undoubtedly been the one player the Blues have failed to sign during the three window of the Boehly period. Having departed Stamford Bridge as a young player in 2016, the former star of the Cobham academy joined Manchester City’s development group before moving on to Reading, where he established himself in the Championship.
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Since then, the star has flourished for Crystal Palace after joining in 2021; in fact, the Blues activated his £35 million release clause in an attempt to bring him back to the Bridge during the summer. Eagles manager Roy Hodgson was considering losing Olise and Wilfried Zaha in the same window at the moment, but all he could do was watch.
Even though Olise had almost committed to Chelsea, it was widely anticipated that he would be named a Blues player as the transfer window closed. Remarkably, though, the player inked a new contract when Palace chairman Steve Parish persuaded him to stick around. Parish shared the news on social media.
He tweeted: “I’m absolutely delighted to announce @m.olise has decided to commit his future to Crystal Palace football club and this afternoon signed a new four year deal with the club.”
After it was announced that the star would miss the first few months of the season due to a hamstring injury, and after Cole Palmer, the team’s eventual replacement in the window, stormed into the Stamford Bridge dressing room on fire upon his arrival from Manchester City, it seemed as though the Blues had avoided making a poor business decision.
However, in recent weeks, the star has reminded Chelsea of his quality – a goal against reigning champions Manchester City and an assist in their 1-1 draw against Brighton before Christmas meant he was in rich form heading into the tie tonight.
And he capitalised on a Chelsea defensive error to remind the Blues what they missed out on in the summer as he fired the Eagles’ equaliser on the stroke of halftime. A cross came in from the left-hand side and two defensive lapses from Levi Colwill and Moises Caicedo made sure the star found his third goal of the season.
Ultimately though, his goal wouldn’t mean much as Noni Madueke was fouled by Eberechi Eze in the penalty area with just one minute of normal time remaining leading to VAR showing referee Michael Salisbury the incident again. A spot-kick was quickly awarded and Madueke stepped up and coolly slotted it home to make sure the Blues kept all three points in West London.
