Michael Olise is still recovering from a frantic summer in North America where his team France reached the semi-finals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The young playmaker is yet to join up with his club Bayern Munich even as pre-season preparations are in full swing in Germany.
The Bavarians returned to training under Vincent Kompany on July 20 with no sign of their international stars. They have since played their usual friendlies against lower-tier German clubs and are now headed to Asia for the second leg of their pre-season.
However, the likes of Olise are not expected to link with the squad until they return to Germany for a final friendly against Red Bull Leipzig. The two teams will meet at the Allianz Arena for the Telekom Cup on August 15.
Olise’s break comes on the back of a record-breaking World Cup where he surpassed Pele for most assists in a single edition with seven. It bookended a remarkable season with Bayern where he scored 22 goals and 31 assists.
Olise will be eager to go even further when the season officially begins in three weeks’ time. Double holders Die Roten will raise the curtains by competing for the Franz Beckenbauer Super Cup against last season’s Bundesliga runners-up Borussia Dortmund on August 22 at Signal Iduna Park.
For all the praise Olise has rightfully earned over the last year, however, not all elements of his persona have gone down particularly well with fans.
Specifically, his fashion. As a 24-year-old earning millions, the Frenchman is living his best life travelling around the world in fancy outfits. These range from baggy sweatshirts to all-black fits complete with a wind cheater to emphasize the comfort.
The more ostentatious pieces of the collection still include the classic white vest, enhanced by expensive bomber jackets, pastel pants, or sometimes floral scarfs. Designer bags only add to the drip, as fans would call it.
However, there is a single thread running most of his fashion choices that has particularly caught the fans’ attention.
Olise has shown an inexplicable affinity for chequered patterns in his clothing.
He was first spotted wearing orange and white chequered pattern pants during a random pickup game in NYC.
Fans were reminded of the same when recent photos from his vacation surfaced on social media.
Olise was captured wearing flared green and black chequered pants, along with a matching jacket to boot while boarding a private jet.
In fact, underneath them the Bayern star was even wearing similarly patterned swimming shorts as he partied by the seas.
The look unsurprisingly attracted comparisons of Olise with popular anime character Tanjiro Kamado. He is the protagonist of one of the best selling mangas of all-time, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.
Why does olise look like he’s about to slay some demons and he has a sister named Nezuko 😭😭😭 https://t.co/8TOaLrd3fz
— ᨳ naomii!! ଓ (@_K1wiara) July 29, 2026
Set in the early 20th century, Tanjiro plays a part of the Demon Slayers Corp and is seeking to transform his sister Nezuko back to her human form. During the excruciating mission, he sports a distinct costume that has since become iconic.
Over his uniform, Tanjiro dons the traditional Japanese ‘Haori’ jacket in black and green colours, much like Olise. Its checkered pattern is known as ‘Ichimatsu’ and signifies prosperity in Japanese culture.
However, it is not the only time Olise has been spotted wearing such a pattern. There are even past photos of him wearing black and white checkered flared pants, akin to a chess board.
Olise might just be autistic his hyper fixation of chess he don’t care about looking a mess pic.twitter.com/kwQMqB3N2k
— ✨Kaya (@impre3ganton) July 29, 2026
While the ever-nonchalant Olise has not talked about anime much in the past, he has certainly been expressive of his love for chess. The Frenchman learned playing the game from his mother when little and had a content series during his time at Crystal Palace which documented him playing regularly against Eberechi Eze.
At Bayern, Olise has revealed he plays often with Jamal Musiala, another player he grew up playing with during his youth in England.
Nevertheless, fans would agree Olise looks his best when wearing his footballing jersey. Hopefully, they will get to seem back in it soon enough.
