Florentino Perez's promise & agent Kylian Mbappe: Are Real Madrid really about to make Michael Olise the most expensive signing in football history?!

Madrid will always have the world's best players on their transfer shortlist, but speculation around a move for Olise peaked on the eve of the World Cup, when president Florentino Perez promised to make a club-record €150m (£128m/$170.5m) offer for a "great player" from "a major Champions League club" as part of his re-election campaign.

Interestingly, Perez made a point of denying that he was talking about Olise, telling Spanish TV show 'Horizonte': "Olise is a great player but it's not Olise. It's not [Jeremy] Doku either. He needs to be a player from midfield who can go forward. And the first thing we'll do is talk to the club. It's a signing meant to generate excitement because that's what it's all about, generating excitement."

Despite Perez's denial, The Guardian reported at the time that the identity of the unnamed target was indeed Olise. But once Perez had been re-elected, in a move that may well have been purely smoke and mirrors, Madrid lodged a €150m bid for Atletico Madrid's Julian Alvarez - a key target for fierce rivals Barcelona - that was swiftly knocked back.

That did not put an end to speculation linking the club with Olise, however, with subsequent reports claiming that Los Blancos were weighing up a mammoth €200m offer for the attacker.

Perhaps covering their tracks, Madrid felt compelled to release a statement later in June to refute that they had made contact with Olise or his camp, albeit they stopped short of ruling out a move for the player, which was the case when they made a similar announcement in response to rumours surrounding Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez.

"In response to reports in various media outlets regarding an alleged interest from our club in Bayern Munich player Michael Olise, Real Madrid wishes to state that it has not had any direct or indirect contact with the aforementioned player, his representatives, or anyone in his entourage," the statetement read.

"Real Madrid also wishes to highlight the excellent institutional relationship it maintains with Bayern Munich, with whom it shares a long history of mutual respect, collaboration and admiration, and regrets the spread of speculation that does not correspond to reality."

That quietened the noise down for a time, with Olise focused on starring for France on their run to the World Cup semi-finals, but things cranked right back up again once Les Bleus were dumped out by eventual winners Spain last week.

It was sensationally reported by French outlet Foot Mercato that Olise wants to join Real Madrid this summer in the belief that the Bernabeu would be the perfect setting in which to continue his progression following his meteoric rise from Crystal Palace to Bayern Munich.

Madrid, meanwhile, were still said to be ready to make a club-record offer, while it was claimed elsewhere that they were prepared to go to great lengths to get the blockbuster deal over the line.

Reports in both Germany and Spain claim that Madrid had an inside man putting in the legwork to persuade Olise to make the switch. Los Blancos superstar Mbappe is said to have contacted Perez after France's World Cup campaign came to an end, informing him that he had convinced his compatriot that his future lay at the Bernabeu during their time together at the tournament.

Mbappe struck up an obvious on-pitch rapport with Olise in North America as the pair formed part of Didier Deschamps' fearsome attack, breaking a 60-year record for goal combinations at the tournament as Olise assisted his captain five times.

Perhaps as a result, Mbappe supposedly believes that his countryman would be the ideal fit for new manager Jose Mourinho's system in the Spanish capital, and is advocating for the club to complete what would be a stunning transfer.

However, the supposed wishes of Olise and Mbappe behind closed doors do not change the fact that the former is categorically not for sale. Various members of Bayern's outspoken hierarchy have made that explicitly clear this summer, including an unnamed official who told French outlet L'Equipe in June: "Olise is priceless; he won't leave even for 500 million euros."

That sum obviously dwarfs the €200m figure that has been widely reported to be Die Roten's valuation, which would have been a tall ask for Madrid as was. Something that could move the needle is the player agitating for a move himself and submitting a transfer request, but there is no sign of that happening at this stage.

The Bavarian giants have made it abundantly clear that they don't want to part with one of their prized assets, and they are in a strong negotiating position given Olise's contract still has three years to run and doesn't include a buyout clause. The winger is viewed as a key part of Bayern's future, and they intend to offer him a new contract to tie him to the club for the long-term.

Madrid, meanwhile, do not have a bottomless pit of money, and with moves for RB Leipzig winger Yan Diomande and Manchester City midfielder Rodri in the works, it's difficult to see how they could acquire Olise as well should both those deals get over the line.

The reality, then, is that this is a transfer that is highly unlikely to happen this summer, despite what some would have you believe.

Real Madrid haven't spent more than €100m on a player since signing Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund three years ago, instead focusing on shrewd deals like the free transfers for Mbappe, Trent Alexander-Arnold and, most recently, Bernardo Silva and Ibrahima Konate. A €200m+ move for Olise, then, would be a significant departure from that policy, despite Perez's bullish promise during his re-election campaign.

When you combine the astronomical fee required with the fact that Olise isn't publicly angling for a move and Bayern have no intention of doing business with Real or anyone else, then it becomes pretty clear that this is a non-starter. Indeed, according to The Athletic, behind closed doors at the Bernabeu there is an acceptance that a switch this summer is 'not feasible'.

You can never rule out Real Madrid when it comes to springing a major surprise in the transfer market, but it's clear that Olise is off the table for the time being, at least.

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