Crystal Palace midfielder Michael Olise has suffered a fresh setback in his journey to full fitness after being sidelined due to injury almost three months ago.
He has been recovering from a hamstring injury he suffered while playing for France in the U21 European Championship back in June.
But it now seems like the 21-year-old has aggravated his hamstring injury and will have to wait a while longer to return back to first-team action.
“He [Olise] worked very hard, got himself into a position where we thought he could take some part in training, and unfortunately, that’s when there was a slight setback,” said Palace’s assistant manager Paddy McCarthy.
The Eagles have made a stable start to the new Premier League season in the absence of Olise, having taken 7 points from their first five games.
But the latest news regarding the midfielder will surely be a huge blow to the team and the fans. Olise was Palace’s Players’ Player of the Season last season after becoming the first player ever to register 10 or more assists in a single Premier League season in the club’s history.
He featured in all but one league games last season for Palace and made 40 appearances overall in all competitions.
There was strong interest in the Frenchman from big clubs like Chelsea during the summer transfer window but he ended up signing a new contract to stay at Selhurst Park for four more years.
There is no doubt that Olise is an important part of manager Roy Hodgson’s plans but the club are now likely to miss him until after the international break in October at the very least.
McCarthy, who has been filling in for the unwell Hodgson, also revealed that midfielder Naouirou Ahamada suffered an injury in training. He said: “It was a freak one during training, where no one was near him [Ahamada] at the time. He stretched and caught his ankle in the turf.”
The assistant manager also provided updates on Marc Guehi and Jordan Ayew, who have both seemed to recover from their respective injuries. “Ayew took a nasty blow, it gave him a dead leg, but he’s trained fine.
“We have also recovered Marc [Guehi], who picked up an injury playing for England,” added the Irishman.
The Eagles have three more Premier League games before October’s international break. They will face Fulham at home and Nottingham Forest away before travelling to face Manchester United at Old Trafford in the league as well as the Carabao Cup.
