Nigeria's chances of getting Michael Olise suffer a setback as France invite him U21 squad

NIGERIA'S changes of getting Crystal Palace playmaker Michael Olise to feature for the Super Eagles took a bit hit today after the midfielder was called up the French U21 national team ahead of the Euro qualifiers.

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 England manager Gareth Southgate is keen in getting him to play for England as the 2022 World Cup looms.

Earlier today, the Fédération Française de Football named Olise as one of the invitees to its U21 camp. This will be Olise's first national team invitation since he signed for Crystal Palace at the start of the season.

Since arriving in the summer, Olise has scored four goals and earned seven assists from 25 appearances for Palace, winning the club’s Player of the Month award twice. He will be in contention for the French U21 side when they face the Faroe Islands on March 24 and Northern Ireland on March 28 in Calais.

Olise’s current international experience comes from a spell with France Under-18s, with whom he played twice. Now that he has been invited to the U21 squad, Olise might be gravitating towards France at senior level, making Nigeria's chances of getting him slimmer.