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Why Olise can be one of France's very best - Clichy

Sometimes a player just seems to have a perfect moment, a tournament where they really announce themselves as a superstar on the biggest stage.

We saw it happen with Kylian Mbappe for France at the 2018 World Cup - we knew before we lifted the trophy in Russia that he was an incredible talent, but that was the time he really arrived.

This summer, I hope another France player, Michael Olise, can do the same in the US, Canada and Mexico.

Everyone knows Michael quite well already, of course, because he plays for Bayern Munich and we see him a lot in the Champions League.

But this is his first World Cup and he has only played 16 games for France so far, so he is still very new on the international scene.

Before the 2024 Olympics in Paris, I don't think many people in France really knew him, when he had just moved to Germany from Crystal Palace. Some people probably still don't know quite how good he is now.

I worked with him at that tournament, when I was assistant coach with Thierry Henry for the French under-23 team, and I thought then that could have been his moment. The Olympics is obviously a major event, and we reached the final, and almost won gold.

But the World Cup is something different, and this is Michael's first big tournament with the first team. I will be watching him at this World Cup as a pundit for BBC Sport and he is the player I am most looking forward to seeing play game after game at this level, and showing everyone exactly what he can do.

Bayern Munich and France forward Michael Olise with his right hand pointing at his temple and his left index finger over his lips

I know how good he is, and what a top guy he is too. If he can take the season he has just had for Bayern, and bring his magic to the World Cup, then he will be seen as one of the very best that we have in France.

And, if he performs as well as he can do, then the team will perform well too.

'Cherki never looks uncomfortable on the ball'

Olise is not the only France player who has enjoyed success with their club but is at their first World Cup, or first major international finals.

He's also not the only one I think can make a big impact if they get a chance to shine.

Like Olise, Rayan Cherki was in our under-23 squad for the 2024 Olympics. From watching him closely, he is an incredible talent, someone with so much creative quality with both feet that he never looks uncomfortable on the ball.

Clichy worked with Cherki when he was Thierry Henry's assistant coach for the France team at the Paris Olympics

He was not the complete player then, in terms of his work without possession, and he could be frustrating - but I can understand why.

I think every player matures differently - everyone has got his own journey, and it is affected by how you are used by your coach.

I see it now I am a manager myself, because there is nothing that is more important than winning points. So, if you have a player who wins you points, then you have a tendency to kind of close your eyes, or at least one of them, about what he is not doing and ignore that because he made the team win.

Because of that, I think when you have been a player like Rayan, who has been the best player in every team he has played for since he was six, it is not that you are learning differently, but you build yourself up from a child into a young man knowing you can get away with stuff - or not doing stuff - in games, because you are so good.

Some of that is unconscious behaviour, I think. Rayan maybe wouldn't think about defending because he did not see football that way. He didn't have to.

That's fine when you are a kid, but year after year this is happening and your coaches are allowing you to do that. Then you get to a certain level, where you need to be good at all five phases of the game - in possession, out of possession, attacking transition, defensive transition and set-pieces.

And, if you are not used to working without the ball, and getting in shape to defend, then you have to reset in a way.

That reset was the challenge for Pep Guardiola when he took Rayan to Manchester City last year, and I think they have both done very well at making it happen.

'Working with Pep can either make you or break you'

Pep Guardiola embraces Rayan Cherki at full-time of Manchester City's win over Chelsea in May's FA Cup final

Rayan has been exposed to the highest level of football since he was 16, when he made his Champions League debut for Lyon.

So, you can forget that he is still only 22 and is still learning, and I feel like the season he has just had with City has been important for him in that way.

I found myself learning at the age of 32, when I met Pep at City in 2016, so you can only imagine the effect of meeting him at such a young age has had on Rayan.

Working with Pep can either make you or break you. It is a simple choice, really - because if you listen and go with what he wants, then, with the quality Rayan has, you have a good chance of becoming great.

If, on the other hand, you don't understand what Pep wants, and you don't really want to go his way, you can break that relationship.

That was the point I was making when I was talking before about whether Rayan could become that complete player.

Pep is leaving City now of course, but for the past few months that match has worked, it has been perfect.

Of course Rayan was always an outstanding talent, in terms of his quality, but you need to understand that football is about more than just having the ball - you need to work on your game out of possession too.

I always thought if he could do that, and add that to his game, he is going to be trusted by his coaches - and then we could be talking about a player that gets close to Kevin de Bruyne with his statistics for making goals.

He has only had one season under Pep, but if he can keep on improving, and keep on bringing the kind of performances we saw from him at City, there is just no limit for him, and what he can do.

I think of Samir Nasri as an example of an individual who made the journey that Rayan is on.

Samir was maybe less talented than Rayan, but he was exposed to what he needed to do in a different way - very early on, when he was still a teenager with Marseille and the pressure was massive, far more than Rayan had at Lyon at a similar age.

I played with Samir and he was the same kind of guy - very skilful, and liked to express himself. But he harnessed that - he had to, to play for Arsenal and City, and France, and to win the Premier League twice like he did.

Samir showed he had something about him to make the most of his talent, but I think Rayan is a level above him. I just hope he can keep performing the way he has been for City when he is playing for France.

'Mateta is a proper leader'

It might have surprised a few people that Jean-Philippe Mateta made the France squad, but not me.

I was a bit surprised, sad even, that he did not get a big move after seeing for myself how good he was at the Olympics. He is that kind of old-school striker who is powerful physically, and who arrives in the box as a finisher too.

But then you look at what he has done for Crystal Palace. I played in England for 15 years and they were always fighting relegation if they were in the Premier League.

Since Jean-Philippe joined them in 2022, however, they have won the FA Cup and the Europa Conference League. For me, the maths is simple - if you have your striker performing well, then your team is performing well.

Mateta, in France's blue kit and with his tongue sticking out of his mouth, celebrates with the ball under his left arm after scoring against Spain in the 2024 Olympics men's football final

For him to go to a World Cup is a reward for the way he has played this season, but it goes beyond that. The work he has been doing, even before we knew him, is phenomenal.

He is a great character in the dressing room and a guy who is always in very good spirits - the kind of player who can play six games in a row for you and score six goals, but then if you put him on the bench for no reason, he will accept it and then still make an impact when he comes on.

He was the reason we got to the final of the Olympics and got the silver medal, obviously because he scored goals which is what you want from a striker, but also because he was a proper leader.

I am really happy for him that he has been selected, and hopefully he can contribute for France on the pitch at this World Cup - but if we are going to win this World Cup, then his personality will be important for us off the pitch too.

Gael Clichy was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan

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