Michael Olise did what even Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal could not

Michael Olise was always a wonderful player, and he was honestly already a world class winger for Crystal Palace. It’s just that, obviously, a young French winger playing for Crystal Palace isn’t going to get the hype they deserve, especially with the national team crowded wtih talents like Kylian Mbappe and Rayan Cherki.

Well, Olise has now become as good as any French player not named Mbappe, and I am sure you will find some people who will debate that Olise’s impact on his team is even more positive than Mbappe’s.

Olise is the definition of a team player. He does so much great, hard work on the wings, and since joining Bayern Munich, he has blossomed into one of the best players in the world with the hype to match, producing so many gilt edged chances for the best striker in the world, Harry Kane.

Transfermarkt keeps track of statistics for the entire calendar year, and in the year 2025, no player has been more productive from a creative perspective than Michael Olise in terms of directly causing goals.

Olise has 30 assists in 2025 with less than a week left until 2026, and even though he’s done it in a few more games, he is the only player to hit the 30 mark in all competitions for both club (Bayern Munich) and country (France).

Not even Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal reached 30 assists. The Barcelona icons are second and third, respectively, in the year 2025’s assist leaderboard. Messi has 29 assists in 54 games and Yamal has 27 in 60 whereas Olise has 30 in 66.

You could argue that Yamal and, especially, Messi have been more efficient per game, but these leaderboards are about consistency and being able to actually play in the games.

Plus, Olise faces a much higher level of competition than Messi does in MLS for Inter Miami. What Olise is doing right now is insane, and to outproduce Yamal and Messi creatively should entrench the fact that this guy is a special, special winger.