Olise rejects Chelsea, pens new Crystal Palace deal – chairman

Michael Olise’s proposed move to Chelsea has collapsed after the winger chose to sign a new four-year contract with Crystal Palace.

Chelsea had triggered a £35 million ($44.7m) release clause in the 21-year-old’s previous deal but that has been superseded by a new agreement that Palace chairman Steve Parish confirmed on Thursday.

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“I’m absolutely delighted to announce Olise has decided to commit his future to Crystal Palace football club and this afternoon signed a new four-year deal with the club,” Parish wrote on Instagram.

Olise’s new deal is a dramatic twist given Chelsea were confident of finalising terms in the coming days.

However, their initial move had created ill-feeling with some senior figures at Palace, who are thought to have believed Chelsea used questionable conduct to sign the player. For their part, Chelsea believe they did nothing wrong.

Chelsea had triggered Michael Olise’s previous £35 million ($45m) buyout clause, sources told ESPN. Visionhaus/Getty Images

Olise was expected to depart until a late intervention from Palace, with sources telling ESPN the club have doubled his salary to stay at Selhurst Park.

“It’s the best possible news we could have,” Palace manager Roy Hodgson said. “The decision has been his [Olise’s]. I must congratulate Steve Parish and Dougie Freedman on a fantastic job.”

It is unclear at this stage whether the new deal contains another release clause but regardless, Chelsea are now switching their attentions to other targets including Nottingham Forest’s Brennan Johnson.

Forest value Johnson at close to £50m and has previously interested both West Ham and Tottenham.