Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton is a man in demand, with Manchester United among the clubs said to be interested in him.
Adam Wharton excelled at Blackburn before moving to Palace
Adam Wharton excelled at Blackburn before moving to Palace
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When former Blackburn Rovers academy coach Mike Sheron first became aware of Adam Wharton, the midfielder was just 12 years old and while it was far too early to make a judgement on what type of player he would become, there were already hints of the talent he possessed.
"I have been in and around Adam on a daily basis throughout his time at Blackburn," Sheron told MEN Sport this week. "He has always been a fairly quiet young lad but he had an inner confidence about himself.
"He had a velvet touch, straightaway you were drawn to his ability to control a football and he used his body particularly well. His weight of pass was exceptional and as he got older you became more critical on how to build your team and you just had to go through him.
"He would never give the ball away, nine times out of ten he was picking the right pass out and it has been a joy watching him develop, it has been brilliant this last 18 months to see what he has been doing."
When Palace paid £18million for Wharton in the 2024 mid-season transfer window, he was relatively unknown to most in the Premier League bubble, but at Ewood Park he had already become a firm fan favourite.
Wharton grew up in a Blackburn-mad household with an incredibly supportive family and network surrounding him.
Reminiscing over one particular trip to Middlesbrough, it was easy to see why Sheron holds Wharton in such high esteem. "From our point of view, as coaches, if you had a flaw in your set-up, in your session design, he would find it and he would exploit it," the 53-year-old who departed Blackburn in September explained.
"He would always find a solution to increase his chances of winning for his team and he made you a better coach as well, not just influencing the players around him, he made you a better coach and it was really enthralling to work around him. It is definitely rare [for a player to better you when you're a coach] and it is not something that you come across too often.
"I felt, as a coach, you never had to give him too many details, he would just figure it out for himself. Like everything else, there is more than one way to do things, so you don’t tell him what to do, you give him a broad landscape of: ‘This is the way that we are wanting to try and do things today, but overall it is down to yourselves how you go about it’.
Adam Wharton scored four goals from defensive midfield during his stint playing for Blackburn Rovers' first-team
Wharton scored four goals from defensive midfield during his stint playing for Blackburn
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"One story I do have of him is that we went to a day event at Middlesbrough, an Under-14s player-led tournament. Basically, all of the players would pick the teams, come up with the tactics and we just had to watch from afar.
"We actually went with an Under-13s set-up because we knew our group at the time at Under-13s was very good. It was Adam’s group, which also had Harry Leonard who is now at Peterborough and Kristi Montgomery who is in and around the first-team now, and they did exceptionally well, but I think Adam, again, was pivotal and was a major factor in us winning that tournament that day.
"He had that quiet leadership, he doesn’t shout, he doesn’t dictate but he has that inner belief about what he is doing and how to be successful. A lot of the time, he was right.
"He didn’t agree with everything that you would tell him, you would sometimes criticise his work ethic but he didn’t expend a lot of energy if he didn’t have to, and he was quite good at that. You see him doing elements of that now.
"You don’t see him running around everywhere, he just gets himself into good positions, he reads the game and that technical ability has ensured he has done fantastically well."
A common theme of the conversation about Wharton was the midfielder's 'inner confidence and belief'.
Wharton never needs to be the loudest voice in the room but he knows he can influence players and the game with his own ability. Sheron spoke with pride when remembering how Declan Rice and Harry Kane spoke so glowingly of him after his first England appearance.
Adam Wharton trains with the England senior squad in 2024 ahead of the European Championships
Wharton trains with the England senior squad
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When quizzed about Wharton's best position in the midfield pivot, Sheron, who also worked in the youth set-up at Liverpool, insisted that the England international has the ability to suit whichever role the manager needs at any given time - even comparing him to a United favourite. "Personally, I always felt he was best suited in and around the No.6 role," he continued.
"I like how they have done it at Palace as a lot of the time he is in with a Will Hughes or he is in with another player and there are two sitters. But in a team that is dominating possession, I don’t think there is much of a problem if he is the single pivot.
"His composure on the ball is second to none, he hardly ever gives the ball away, he can use both feet, read situations, he is so intelligent with his positioning to intercept but it has been a shock to see how well he is doing because you just never know.
"His game has really gone to the next level around more dynamic players and I would have him down as someone like a Michael Carrick who is really football-intelligent and composed, it really has been a joy to watch him develop."
Such a talented player is exactly what United need to mix up their midfield next summer. The midfield department went untouched this previous window as focus gravitated towards the attack.
Adam Wharton has moved from strength-to-strength at Crystal Palace since leaving Blackburn Rovers
Wharton has gone from strength to strength at Palace
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The concern for the Reds is whether they would be able to attract Wharton without necessarily having the Champions League football which Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish suggested he would crave in the future. Fortunately for the Reds, Sheron believes that an immediate move to a Champions League club is not necessarily the be-all and end-all at this stage.
"We are all aware of United’s standing in the game and the frustrations they have had in the last couple of years, but who would have thought that going to Crystal Palace would have been a fantastic move?" Sheron said.
"If a team sells the club to him and his family and advisors, and he feels that it is the right move for him, then I don’t think it is a case of him needing to go to Manchester City or Liverpool or Arsenal, I think it is a case of whether he gets the vibes that he is going to be valued, be a big part of the team going forward and we all know the animal that Manchester United can become. So I wouldn’t say it is a yes or a no on United, but rather whether the move is the right fit for him.
"I would put my faith in Adam, who has made a few good decisions, to make the right decision and if he thinks Manchester United is the right fit then it will be. Adam will make other players play better and other players will get their confidence up playing with him."