Adam Wharton: Rising Star Courted by Manchester City and Liverpool

Manchester City and Liverpool are circling Adam Wharton – and the numbers involved show just how far the Crystal Palace midfielder’s stock has risen.

City, fresh from dropping £116 million on Elliot Anderson in the latest window, are understood to have the 22-year-old on their recruitment radar as they look to reshape a midfield that has lost Ballon d’Or and World Cup winner Rodri to Barcelona. Another huge outlay is very much in play.

Wharton has earned that kind of attention. Across two-and-a-half seasons at Selhurst Park, he has gone from promising pick-up to central figure in a Palace side that has lifted the FA Cup, Community Shield and Conference League. His rise has put him firmly alongside his Three Lions colleagues in the conversation for the Premier League’s next elite midfield operator.

City are not alone. Liverpool’s interest has never been far from the surface. The Reds have tracked Wharton’s development and, if a bidding war breaks out, are expected to be right in the middle of it for one of the most coveted young midfielders in England.

For someone who has worn both shirts, the appeal is obvious.

Ray Houghton, who patrolled the midfields of Anfield and Selhurst Park and won two First Division titles with Liverpool, sees a player tailor-made for a club of that stature. Speaking to GOAL courtesy of Football Betting, he laid out why Wharton’s name keeps coming up when the big clubs draw up their lists.

“I listen to people who I've played with and who've got a good eye for midfielders. I know Jan Molby, he's a big fan of Adam. He spoke about him highly on numerous occasions and I trust Jan's judgment. He knows the game, he knows the position. He feels that there's a real player in there that can do well.”

The admiration is not from a distance. Houghton recalled a conversation that underlined the character behind the talent.

“I spoke to Adam, actually, when they [Palace] beat Liverpool last season. I was at the game and after the match I was talking to Mark Bright and Adam came out. He’s a really down-to-earth lad, really, really lovely kid. It was a joy to speak to him and just listen to him and he just wants to be the best that he can.

“He's got a great attitude. If anyone was to ask me, what do you think of Adam Wharton, I'd say great attitude. He wants to be successful. He's got all the ingredients there for being a top player.”

That is exactly why Palace now face such a delicate balancing act.

The south London club picked Wharton up from Blackburn for just £18m, a shrewd piece of business that now looks like one of the bargains of recent windows. Any sale would come at a vastly different price. Palace are expected to demand at least four times that fee, with the full package potentially pushing towards, and even into, nine figures.

Houghton’s concern is what repeated sales might do to a squad that has finally started to collect silverware.

“At the minute, the only worry with Palace is they can't keep selling players. [Marc] Guehi went and now [Maxence] Lacroix's gone and they're moving players around. To have any modicum of success, you can't keep doing that. You look at what they've won, three trophies they've been involved in. One thing you don't want to do is keep changing players.”

The tension is clear: cash in again, or hold firm to build something lasting?

Clinton Morrison, another former Palace favourite, has already spelled out the sort of figures that would test the club’s resolve. Speaking to GOAL, he was blunt about the scale of any offer required to get a deal done.

“Yeah, £60m, £70m - if someone wants to pay £80m, I think they’d bite your hand off. But yeah, definitely at least £60-70 million.

“If you look at how young he is and the talent he’s got, and the clubs that will be knocking on the door for him, then Palace are right to say £60-70 million. It’s good money for another player they’ve developed. He’s a top player.

“But yeah, he’s got all the attributes and there will come a time where he needs to go to one of the top four or five teams, or maybe go and play in Europe, because you need to keep improving yourself as a player.”

That is where Liverpool come back into sharp focus. The pull of Anfield, for a driven young midfielder, is obvious.

“If a club like Liverpool comes knocking for you, you're going to be tempted, aren't you?” Houghton said. “Simple as that if you're Adam Wharton. It's just whether he's the right fit for the manager and that's what it'll come down to. At the moment, I still think Liverpool need a few additions before they really get going.”

So the stage is set: a 22-year-old with trophies already on his CV, a selling club wrestling with ambition and reality, and two of England’s giants weighing up whether to go all in.

If the chequebooks open and the numbers climb towards that nine-figure mark, the question won’t be whether Adam Wharton moves – it will be who wins the race to build their midfield around him.