Crystal Palace struck gold with “wizard” who was sold for 535% profit

It would be fair to say that this season has not been a particularly enjoyable one for Crystal Palace fans so far.

In stark contrast to how they finished last year, Oliver Glasner’s side have picked up just a single win in their opening 11 Premier League games and currently sit in 18th place, one point from safety.

However, with the Austrian manager at the helm and several incredibly talented players such as Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi and Jean-Philippe Mateta in the squad, the South Londoners should be able to pull themselves out of the relegation zone soon enough.

Moreover, while the board bought a number of new recruits over the summer, such as Eddie Nketiah and Maxence Lacroix, they also made sure to balance the books by making several significant sales, including one which saw them net a massive profit on their original investment.

Crystal Palace’s summer sales

So, before we get to the player in question, let’s look at a couple of other sales Palace made over the summer, starting with one player who came back to haunt them over the weekend: Joachim Andersen.

The Danish international joined the South Londoners back in July 2021 from French giants Lyon for a fee of £22m, including add-ons, and while he never really grabbed the headlines, he was a capable player for the Eagles.

During his three years at Selhurst Park, the 28-year-old made 113 appearances, in which he found himself on the scoresheet three times, provided three assists, and never picked up a red card or second yellow.

The Frederiksberg-born ace was eventually sold to Fulham this summer, where he spent a season on loan before moving to South London for a fee of around £30m.

While that is a nice profit, he did, unfortunately, put in a brilliant performance for the Cottagers in their 2-0 win on Saturday.

Another summer sale that netted the club a significant profit was that of goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, who joined Palace on a free transfer in July 2022 after spending four years with West Bromwich Albion.

Even though the Englishman made just 34 appearances in the capital over the last two years, he was sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers for £10m in August.

However, while both of these sales netted Palace a nice chunk of change between them, they pale in comparison to the club’s biggest sale of the summer, which also happened to be their second-biggest sale ever.

Palace’s second-largest sale

So, the player in question is, of course, Michael Olise, who joined the club for just £8m in July 2021 and then left for Bayern Munich this summer for around £50.8m, which equates to a massive profit of £42.8m, or 535% more than they paid Reading three years prior.

Now, such a massive increase in valuation might seem excessive to some, but based on the Frenchman’s form for Palace when fit, it really wasn’t.

For example, despite being just 19 at the start of his first season with the Eagles, the Frenchman scored four goals and provided eight assists in 31 appearances, equating to a goal involvement every 2.58 games.

The following season saw his creativity skyrocket, but his goalscoring slightly decreased, as he ended up providing 11 assists and scoring two goals in 40 appearances, equating to an average of a goal involvement every 3.07 games.

His final season in red and blue saw the mercurial “wizard”, as dubbed by writer Muhammad Butt, go to the next level, and in just 19 appearances, he found the back of the net on ten occasions and provided six assists for good measure, meaning he averaged a goal involvement every 1.18 games.

With such an outrageous level of output last year, it’s hard to argue that Bayern overpaid for the youngster, especially as in just 15 matches for the German behemoths, the 22-year-old has already racked up seven goals and four assists, which is an average of a goal involvement every 1.36 games.

Ultimately, while it’s never ideal to lose a player as unbelievably talented as Olise so young, Palace did at least net themselves a hefty payday in the process and an enormous profit thanks to the bargain price they initially paid for him in 2021.

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