Revealed: Man Utd's trump card in beating Arsenal to Olise

Stuart Telford

• 7 Jan 2024 09:18 GMT
• 3 min read

Manchester United have the perfect sweetener for Crystal Palace when it comes to trying to beat Arsenal to Michael Olise's signature.

Man Utd and Arsenal have emerged as frontrunners for Olise, who has attracted interest after contributing five goals and an assist to Crystal Palace's Premier League cause this season.

As revealed exclusively by FootballTransfers earlier this month, the player's preference is to stay in London, therefore joining the Gunners, but United have a trump card in former Palace defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

Wan-Bissaka joined the Red Devils in a £50 million deal in 2019, and despite battling his way back into first-team contention at Old Trafford, could now be used as a makeweight.

Wan-Bissaka for Olise?

"That is why they were happy to exercise a one-year extension option on Wan-Bissaka's contract last month," reports The Daily Star's Harry Pratt.

"That firstly stops Palace from trying to buy their former defender… on the cheap in this window - or resign him as a free in July - and it also puts [Man Utd] in a potentially stronger position when they make their move for Olise."

Wan-Bissaka is now valued at just €9.3m (£8m) by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm, while Olise is tagged at €27.8m (£24m), so the former is unlikely to knock too much off the price Palace receive for their star player.

But they were keen to bring Wan-Bissaka back to Selhurst Park before, and if they can do so whilst extracting close to maximum value for Olise, they could turn down other bids from Arsenal and Liverpool.

Wan-Bissaka has edged Diogo Dalot at right-back under Erik ten Hag of late, but it is understood the Dutchman doesn't see much between them in terms of overall ability, with Wan-Bissaka the better defender but Dalot posing a greater attacking threat.