By Joe Ellis

26th Apr, 2022 | 5:40pm

Crystal Palace: Mesmerising Michael Olise is the French Riyad Mahrez

Crystal Palace may have laboured to a 0-0 draw against Leeds United last night, but they were markedly better once they introduced one of their teenage stars.

Michael Olise has taken to the Premier League like a duck to water after his summer move to Selhurst Park from Reading for £8.37million, which was his release clause at ht Madejski Stadium.

The 20-year-old has gone on to make 24 appearances in the Premier League but his goal tally of just two might seem quite low for someone of his quality.

Much of his time on the pitch has been from the bench under Patrick Vieira and he really proved his ability with a match-winning performance away at Millwall in the FA Cup where he scored and got an assist in a 2-1 victory.

The way the Frenchman plays his game is very similar to that of Manchester City star Riyad Mahrez with very agile dribbling and a deadly left boot in their armouries.

We saw at The Den in the FA Cup just how good Olise can be and how much defenders hate playing against him.

With the Eagles 1-0 down in the second half, the 20-year-old genius was able to cut in and produce a vicious effort into the far corner, deflecting in off the post.

It was a typical Mahrez-esque goal to score and the Millwall left-back was left in knots on more than one occasion by the trickster.

Olise very nearly added a second goal to his personal tally that day with an almost identical shot towards the far corner but the Lions were let off the hook on this occasion as the ball ricocheted off the post.

But it was looking like, while he was exceptional cutting in onto his left foot, he might be a bit of a one-trick pony and if you could stop him from doing that one trick, you wouldn’t have to worry about him.

Not anymore as Leeds found out last night with Olise coming on just after the hour mark and immediately causing serious problems for Stuart Dallas at left-back.

The France under-21 international has obviously been learning from his manager because he burst beyond the Northern Irishman on the outside this time and delivered a cross into the area.

The ball didn’t come to anything but the more he learns and adds to his game, the more dangerous he is going to be to opposition defenders. Palace have got a gem.

In other Crystal Palace news, Victor Akinwale could be the man to lead the Eagles’ attack in a few years if Vieira manages him right.