Liverpool have been linked with a bid for Adam Wharton - but should they spend £60m on him this summer?
Speculation over the future of Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton is hardly fresh fodder for the gossip columns. Within months of his first match at Selhurst Park, the midfielder was in the England squad and being routinely linked with most of England’s biggest clubs. Now, however, stories linking him with Liverpool are starting to gather serious steam.
On Thursday, The Daily Mail became the latest outlet to add their voice to suggestions that Arne Slot’s side could make a summer move for the 21-year-old, claiming that Liverpool “adore” him – but will he move to Anfield in the coming transfer window, and would he be an upgrade on the options already in the squad?
Will Liverpool sign Adam Wharton this summer?
While Liverpool may well be enamoured with the former Blackburn Rovers youngster, they aren’t alone in making eyes at him. The Mail’s report cites Barcelona and Real Madrid as being interested, and plenty of other sources suggest that Manchester United, Manchester City and others have at least a passing interest.
In short, any team that begins a bidding process will likely start a bidding war instead, and it’s tough to estimate Liverpool’s chances of coming out on top if they did make an earnest effort to bring him in.
They may be the reigning Premier League champions, but most of the potential competition can offer plenty of reasons to believe that they would be a good long-term bet for silverware, and Liverpool aren’t short of competition for midfield places either, outside of a dedicated holding midfielder – which Wharton isn’t.
The Mail’s report reckons that Wharton would be available for a fee of around £60m, a little lower than some other sources have claimed and surely more of a base price than the final figure if a full-blown bidding war did erupt. It’s also not clear that Liverpool would be able to pay that without making sacrifices.
Liverpool are expected to sign Bayer Leverkusen right-back Jeremie Frimpong for his £30m release clause, are reportedly keen to bring in Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez for around £50m, and may well make additions at centre-back, centre-forward and on the wings.
That’s a lot of purchasing power that’s required in positions that are arguably more important, especially given the form of Ryan Gravenberch and Curtis Jones, who would be Wharton’s most immediate competition for a place. In short, the path to a deal for Wharton is far from clear.
Why Wharton could be an upgrade on Gravenberch and Jones
It would be a mistake to view Wharton as the traditional holding player that Liverpool have essentially lacked in midfield since the departure of Fabinho back in 2023. It’s a role that has been filled admirably by Alexis Mac Allister while Wataru Endo has been able back-up, but Wharton is no more of a natural number six than Mac Allister despite playing in a notionally deeper role.
While Wharton does generate a healthy number of turnovers and puts in plenty of hard yards trying to win the ball when out of possession, he doesn’t have the positional discipline or reliability in the tackle to be an entirely defensive player, as his tackle success rate of just 38.6% in the Premier League this season suggests.
Rather, Wharton is at his best as a hard-working box-to-box midfielder who can drop deep to hassle opposing players and who can function effectively as part of a counter-pressing system, but whose greatest strength lies in getting the ball into dangerous areas quickly during transitions.
That role would put him into direct conflict with Jones and Gravenberch – Slot’s first choice for most of the current campaign. So would he be an upgrade on the options Liverpool have as it stands? If Slot wants to add a little extra steel into his midfield while maintaining play-making quality, the answer may be yes. Despite his low success rate, Wharton has still made more tackles and forced more turnovers per game than either of his apparent rivals for a place in Liverpool’s midfield, and could help to upgrade the defensive shield in front of the back four.
Going forward, he also creates more chances – he’s been responsible for 3.91 shooting opportunities per match this year, compared to 2.85 for Jones and just 1.89 for Gravenberch. Much of that is due to a lethal eye for a direct pass. Wharton can split defences apart with his accurate distribution and plays far more killer balls than either of his potential counterparts – but while he creates more chances and wins possession back more often, there are downsides.
Both Gravenberch and Jones are more economical as passers, more efficient with the ball at their feet and are arguably better technicians. If the order of the day is maintaining possession and aiming for steady and reliable progress with the ball rather than quicker, more dangerous passes, then Wharton isn’t your man.
Much, then, depends on what Slot wants his midfield to look like. He has essentially been forced to use the same midfield system that Jürgen Klopp used and may want to switch things around once he’s had a couple of transfer windows to work with. If he wants to play a harder, more aggressive press and look for quick counter-attacking options, Wharton may well be a fine purchase.
But is he sufficiently better than the players on Liverpool’s books now to justify spending £60m or more when there are so many other areas in which upgrades are required or desired? Perhaps not – but only FSG know how much money there is to spend this summer.
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