Crystal Palace have found a "spectacular" Olise replacement & it's not Sarr

Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace have largely been in excellent form since the start of 2025, only losing three times in their last 11 Premier League matches, keeping eight clean sheets in all competitions this calendar year and earning themselves a spot in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

The Eagles didn’t start the campaign at 100mph. After losing the likes of Michael Olise and Joachim Anderson in the summer, Palace had to reassemble their tools, find ways to recruit and replace those players and then begin to build.

After the first ten matches of the season, Palace found themselves 17th, only picking up seven points in that time.

But due to their excellent form since then, Palace now find themselves in mid-table in the Premier League, with the top seven not too far out of reach.

So why did it take a while at the start of the season, and how much did Glasner’s side miss Olise?

Michael Olise’s creative burden

Olise was sold to Bayern Munich in the summer, joining the German giants for a fee of around £50m. Since joining Bayern, Olise has been in sublime form, making 43 appearances, scoring 13 goals, and providing 16 assists.

But, the Frenchman was key in his time at Palace, making 90 appearances in his three years at the club, netting 16 times, providing 25 assists and totaling 5,782 minutes played.

Having Olise on the right and Eberechi Eze on the left made it tough for teams to contain the Eagles, with the duo often combining to create chances out of nothing.

With Olise gone, more focus being solely on Eze and a right-hand side that had to be re-invented, it was always going to take some time to find the best way to replace the French wingers’ presence.

That being said, Glasner has certainly found a way to do it.

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Glasner’s “spectacular” duo have replaced Olise

Crystal Palace signed Ismaila Sarr from Marseille in the summer, joining for a fee of around £12.6m. The 27-year-old was the clear signing destined to take the spot of Olise on that right-hand side, but the difference in overall quality is clear, and therefore, a new dynamic on that side would be needed.

Daniel Munoz, working in tandem with Sarr on the right, has been Glasner’s key weapon to replacing Olise’s output, with both players proving to be very direct, making clever runs in behind and stretching play for their teammates. This right side has proven to be a key outlet for Palace this season.

When looking at the pair’s underlying metrics this season, you can see how their combined effort has helped to replace the French star, both getting forward and getting shots off, both putting balls into the box, chipping in with output and contributing in build up.

Munoz was described as “spectacular” by Jefferson Lerma and that is certainly one way to describe the pair down that right-hand side, working in tandem to attack in a direct fashion and create chances for the team.

Whilst Olise will never fully be replaceable, losing a world-class talent is always tough to replace, even more so when you are a mid-table Premier League side.

Therefore, Palace fans must be fairly happy with their right-side rebrand, with Glasner proving he can make it work.

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