Crystal Palace dealt injury blow as £50m-rated Arsenal target is ruled out of huge match for his country

Crystal Palace are sweating over the fitness of star forward Michael Olise who impressed for France against Norway at the on-going European under-21 Championship.

The Eagles forward scored the only goal as France beat Norway but had to be quickly replaced with what looked like a hamstring injury. His continual participation in the competition is now in doubt in what is a blow to France.

Crystal Palace have been in touch with the France team as they look to find out the level of damage done with concerns over if he will be fit for the start of the new season.

One thing is for certain, he’ll be ruled out of the competition, and with the Eagles set to return for pre-season next month, not that he would be back early due to his participation in the championship but there is now a real worry that he might not make it for the start of the new campaign.

France Under-21 manager Sylvain Ripoll told reporters : “It’s an injury to the hamstring in his left thigh. It’s a tough blow.

“It’s a problem for the rest of the competition because we can’t replace him. We’ll find out in the coming hours how long he will be out for.”

Olise played in 37 league games last season, scoring 2 goals and proving 11 assists as Palace ended up finishing comfortably in midtable despite initial concerns that they could be relegated at the start of the year.

The future of Wilfried Zaha is up but many Eagles fans believe that Olise is the natural successor if he the Ivory Cost international were to say goodbye.