"I was hearing" - Sky Sports reporter drops "very positive" Crystal Palace claim on £35m star

Crystal Palace’s attempts to tie highly-rated forward Michael Olise down to a new contract ‘seems very positive’, according to Sky Sports reporter Michael Bridge.

The 20-year-old only arrived at Selhurst Park last summer but has already made a big impact under the tutelage of manager Patrick Vieira.

Olise enjoyed an outstanding 2020/21 campaign for boyhood club Reading, registering seven goals and 12 assists in 44 Championship appearances as they narrowly missed out on the play-off positions.

And the France Under-21 international’s impressive displays caught the eye of the Palace hierarchy, who activated his £8 million release clause to make him the first signing of Vieira’s tenure.

The youngster made a relatively slow start to his Palace career, though, and didn’t start his first Premier League game until 23rd October, albeit partly due to injury.

However, Olise has established himself as a key figure in the capital club’s setup of late and has taken his tally to four goals and eight assists in 31 outings across all competitions.

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According to The Athletic’s David Ornstein, that return has seen Palace begin negotiations over fresh terms as they are determined to increase the £35m release clause in his existing deal.

Ornstein claims that Olise is keen to remain in south London and isn’t looking for an increase in wages, while it’s thought the proposal would add 12 months onto the five-year contract he signed back in July.

Bridge has revealed that Palace’s plans to tie Olise down to a new deal are something he ‘knew they were looking to do’ following a promising maiden campaign for the club.

He told GiveMeSport: “It was something that I knew they