“He was just sitting asleep in his car”: A curious story about Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise revealed
“Every morning when I arrived at the training ground, Michael would just be sitting in his car, fast asleep,” recalled Mark Bowen, who coached Olise during his early days as a professional at Reading FC, on the ZDF programme Bolzplatz.
Background: As a teenager, Olise was just breaking into the first team of what was then an English second-tier club (now in the third tier), but he was still living with his family in London. Every morning he battled the capital’s heavy traffic to reach Reading on time.
“He said he didn’t want to get stuck in traffic and didn’t want to spend too long in the car. He’d probably set off as early as 5.30 in the morning to make it to training on time,” recalled Bowen, now sporting director at English fifth-tier side Forest Green Rovers. The curious part, he added, was that Olise “would arrive at the training ground and fall fast asleep at the wheel. When training started at 9 a.m., the senior players would approach me and ask, ‘Where’s Michael? Why is he late?’ I’d reply, ‘He might be late for training, but while you were still in bed he was already out in the car park.’ He was just a kid and would nod off. We had to rap on the glass and wake him for the session,’ Bowen recalled.
