Olise

[Greatwesternline]

This week looks like the possibility a Reading academy player cementing his presence as one of the best players in the world.

My mate said, you Reading fans must be so pleased with what he is achieving.

And I thought, to be honest not really, he didn't seem to like us, wasn't actually from Reading and only played a season of football where he made an actual difference before moving on.

In a mad way I'm much more proud of what Michael Antonio achieved but I can't really explain why.

Anyone else feel the same?

[Sutekh]

This week looks like the possibility a Reading academy player cementing his presence as one of the best players in the world.

My mate said, you Reading fans must be so pleased with what he is achieving.

And I thought, to be honest not really, he didn't seem to like us, wasn't actually from Reading and only played a season of football where he made an actual difference before moving on.

In a mad way I'm much more proud of what Michael Antonio achieved but I can't really explain why.

Anyone else feel the same?

Part of the issue I think is he was really performing over the Covid years so we all had to stay home and watch him on the telly

His attitude at the time would probably be fairly typical of a very talented youngster who was supremely confident and knew he was better than the division he was stuck in and many of those players around him it’s probably just something that comes with the talent in a great many cases, take it away and he’s not the same and probably still stuck in a lower league somewhere.

Antonio we all got to watch and was obviously a stand out but we were robbed as we had so many others in his role at the time who were more experienced and the management wouldn’t take a chance.

Personally I’m proud of both and would hope we can unearth another one or two before the decade is out, hopefully someone who can be part of a driving force that gets back to the PL so we have a chance of keeping him for longer.

[katweslowski]

Wasn't there some Instagram messages with some chick where he was saying he was much better than little old Reading?

[BRO_BOT]

This week looks like the possibility a Reading academy player cementing his presence as one of the best players in the world.

My mate said, you Reading fans must be so pleased with what he is achieving.

And I thought, to be honest not really, he didn't seem to like us, wasn't actually from Reading and only played a season of football where he made an actual difference before moving on.

In a mad way I'm much more proud of what Michael Antonio achieved but I can't really explain why.

Anyone else feel the same?

It would* be interesting to look at the top 100 players and see which route their development has taken. The assumption being that the big team academies would produce the best players, but I can think of several examples where this isn't the case.



*might

[Clyde1998]

Wasn't there some Instagram messages with some chick where he was saying he was much better than little old Reading?

I mean, he wasn't wrong tbf.

[Orion1871]

Prouder of Olise.

Respect Antonio from going from someone who was frankly atrocious in a Reading shirt with zero technical ability, and whose only notable attribute was a long throw, to someone who had a good PL career.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

This week looks like the possibility a Reading academy player cementing his presence as one of the best players in the world.

My mate said, you Reading fans must be so pleased with what he is achieving.

And I thought, to be honest not really, he didn't seem to like us, wasn't actually from Reading and only played a season of football where he made an actual difference before moving on.

In a mad way I'm much more proud of what Michael Antonio achieved but I can't really explain why.

Anyone else feel the same?

Kinda feel a little the same tbf

Olise was around for such a short time, and never really dug his attitude to scoring etc. But I do pinch myself when he's on TV with Bayern and thinking "can't believe he used to play for Reading". But we all knew he was destined for great things

Whereas Antonio did it the the hard way and took us all by surprise, so felt more impressed when he was banging in goals in the prem

[Stranded]

This week looks like the possibility a Reading academy player cementing his presence as one of the best players in the world.

My mate said, you Reading fans must be so pleased with what he is achieving.

And I thought, to be honest not really, he didn't seem to like us, wasn't actually from Reading and only played a season of football where he made an actual difference before moving on.

In a mad way I'm much more proud of what Michael Antonio achieved but I can't really explain why.

Anyone else feel the same?

Part of the issue I think is he was really performing over the Covid years so we all had to stay home and watch him on the telly

His attitude at the time would probably be fairly typical of a very talented youngster who was supremely confident and knew he was better than the division he was stuck in and many of those players around him it’s probably just something that comes with the talent in a great many cases, take it away and he’s not the same and probably still stuck in a lower league somewhere.

Antonio we all got to watch and was obviously a stand out but we were robbed as we had so many others in his role at the time who were more experienced and the management wouldn’t take a chance.

Personally I’m proud of both and would hope we can unearth another one or two before the decade is out, hopefully someone who can be part of a driving force that gets back to the PL so we have a chance of keeping him for longer.

I agree with most of that accept for the fact that Antonio was a stand-out - he really wasn't, he looked at best just what he was at the time, a rough gem plucked from non-league with potential, but saying he was a stand out feels a little like re-writing his time here based on his further success.

[Royal Rother]

He was good to watch but I never warmed to him in a Reading shirt.

The "I'm too big to celebrate scoring a goal in this tinpot league for this little club" attitude, despite it being for the club that had nurtured him, and invested in him, didn't appeal to me.

I thought he was a BBB at the time and would disappear like so many other shining youth talents.

How wrong was I? Tremendous player now, on the verge of greatness.

[Sutekh]

This week looks like the possibility a Reading academy player cementing his presence as one of the best players in the world.

My mate said, you Reading fans must be so pleased with what he is achieving.

And I thought, to be honest not really, he didn't seem to like us, wasn't actually from Reading and only played a season of football where he made an actual difference before moving on.

In a mad way I'm much more proud of what Michael Antonio achieved but I can't really explain why.

Anyone else feel the same?

Part of the issue I think is he was really performing over the Covid years so we all had to stay home and watch him on the telly

His attitude at the time would probably be fairly typical of a very talented youngster who was supremely confident and knew he was better than the division he was stuck in and many of those players around him it’s probably just something that comes with the talent in a great many cases, take it away and he’s not the same and probably still stuck in a lower league somewhere.

Antonio we all got to watch and was obviously a stand out but we were robbed as we had so many others in his role at the time who were more experienced and the management wouldn’t take a chance.

Personally I’m proud of both and would hope we can unearth another one or two before the decade is out, hopefully someone who can be part of a driving force that gets back to the PL so we have a chance of keeping him for longer.

I agree with most of that accept for the fact that Antonio was a stand-out - he really wasn't, he looked at best just what he was at the time, a rough gem plucked from non-league with potential, but saying he was a stand out feels a little like re-writing his time here based on his further success.

IMO Antonio was a stand out, perhaps I just lucky enough to see his potential better, he had the physical presence and pace and, had I had been manager, he would have got more game time. Conversely though I didn’t really get much about Olise being quite all that. Talented with a future, yes - but never going to a World Cup as possibly the hottest property in the competition but then if I’d got to see more of him actually at a game rather than just on TV that opinion might have been different.

[Greatwesternline]

He was good to watch but I never warmed to him in a Reading shirt.

The "I'm too big to celebrate scoring a goal in this tinpot league for this little club" attitude, despite it being for the club that had nurtured him, and invested in him, didn't appeal to me.

I thought he was a BBB at the time and would disappear like so many other shining youth talents.

How wrong was I? Tremendous player now, on the verge of greatness.

Same. If i search hard enough i could probably find a post on here along the lines of, he's already 19 and he's only just breaking into the Reading team in Championship. If he was as good as he thinks he is he should have been doing this at 16 already, like Yamal was, or Rooney.

But he really has got better and better.

I remember one goal he set up for Meite where no matter how many times i've rewatched it i don't understand how how he hit it first time not breaking stride. That was the main inkling that he was special, but most of the time i thought he was a bit like Ejaria but with slightly more end product and a little less dribbling

[Sanguine]

Sort of relatedly, I've always figured we had a hand on Emiliano Martinez becoming a World Cup winner. His career was meandering as backup at Arsenal via a bucketful of loan spells, but it was his time at Reading, where he was outstanding, that really put him in the shop window and ultimately led to his transfer to Villa, and a first Argentina call-up a year after he left us.

[From Despair To Where?]

Olise always looked phenomenally talented, it was just a question of whether he would fulfil the potential. Yes, he came across as a bit aloof but I don't remember any manager saying that he had anything other than an exceptional attitude.

Antonio looked very raw when he was with us, a bit of a headless chicken, really. Given we were in the Premier League when he left and dropped down to League 1 with Sheffield Wednesday, I suspect his career would not have progressed in the way it did if he stayed and spent another 2 years getting a handful of starts or 20 minutes off the bench.

[Dirk Gently]

He was always just using us. He and his agent had his career mapped out nicely, and at that stage in his career he needed a club where he'd actually get games, not be stuck in Academy teams. We fitted the bill nicely, and h signed for us - but on his terms (e.g. no sell-on fee)

As a result of what he did he he got what he needed - a move to a mid PL team to put him in the international shop window - and then he got the career-defining move.

Good luck to him - perfect career planning, and a win-win as we benefitted from him being here for a few years - but I'm not sure how much actual "development" we gave him.

[Clyde1998]

Sort of relatedly, I've always figured we had a hand on Emiliano Martinez becoming a World Cup winner. His career was meandering as backup at Arsenal via a bucketful of loan spells, but it was his time at Reading, where he was outstanding, that really put him in the shop window and ultimately led to his transfer to Villa, and a first Argentina call-up a year after he left us.

Saw a podcast where he said Reading was going to be his final loan move. If that failed, he would've wanted to return to Argentina.

[leon]

Sort of relatedly, I've always figured we had a hand on Emiliano Martinez becoming a World Cup winner. His career was meandering as backup at Arsenal via a bucketful of loan spells, but it was his time at Reading, where he was outstanding, that really put him in the shop window and ultimately led to his transfer to Villa, and a first Argentina call-up a year after he left us.

this