Olise visits former Palace teammates for club captain Joel Ward's farewell

London, May 21 (IANS) French winger Michael Olise, who is on vacation after being crowned the 2024/25 Bundesliga Champions, reunited with his former Crystal Palace teammates to give a proper farewell to former teammate and captain Joel Ward, who will depart Selhurst Park this summer after 13 years with the club, upon the expiration of his current contract. 

The 35-year-old has been a near-ever-present throughout the London side's longest top-flight spell to date, playing a key role in many of the most important moments in modern Crystal Palace history. He played his last home game on Tuesday night in a thrilling 4-2 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Ward initially joined the club from Portsmouth at the beginning of the 2012/13 season in the Championship, playing a significant role in the club’s promotion to the Premier League and has overall played 364 matches for the Eagles – a total which places him eighth in Palace's list of all-time appearances , while scoring six times for the club.

Olise, on the other hand, joined Palace from Reading in July 2021 and flourished into a top-tier talent, making 90 appearances for Crystal Palace, scoring 16 times and registering 25 assists. His impressive outings saw him secure a reported 60 million euros move to Bayern ahead of the 2024/25 season.

Olise has impressed in his debut season for the Munich side and immediately established himself as a key player. The 23-year-old attacking player has now been honoured by the German Football League (DFL) for his outstanding performances in the Bundesliga, being voted Rookie of the Season for 2024/25.

He scored 17 goals and provided 21 assists in 50 appearances in all competitions and was the team’s second-highest scorer after Harry Kane. He topped the Bundesliga assist chart with 15 provisions. Since detailed data collection began in the 2004/05 season, only Emil Forsberg of RB Leipzig has provided more assists in his first Bundesliga season (19 in 2016/17) than the Frenchman.

Olise’s visit comes at a special time for Crystal Palace after they recently secured their first ever major trophy and that too by defeating top dogs Manchester City 1-0 in the F.A Cup final at the iconic Wembley Stadium.

--IANS

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