One Premier League match is all it took for Adam Wharton to remind people why Manchester United have been so heavily linked with the Crystal Palace ace.
Rewind to the beginning of the month and Adam Wharton failed to impress in his Manchester United ‘audition’ in Crystal Palace’s 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford.
Wharton started for the Eagles in last Sunday’s Premier League clash before Oliver Glasner withdrew the 22-year-old England midfielder for Will Hughes on the day.
Fast-forward only a few days on from Man Utd’s win over 10-man Palace and Wharton proved exactly why the performance against the Red Devils was a ‘blip.’
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Manchester United-linked Adam Wharton during the UEFA Conference League 2025-26 knockout play-off second-leg match between Crystal Palace and HSK Zrinjski Mostar at Selhurst Park in 2026 in London, England.
Photo by Steve Bardens – AMA/Getty Images
Did Adam Wharton just end his chances of signing for Man United with that performance?
Adam Wharton had an afternoon to forget at Old Trafford…
Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton graphic vs Man United
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Adam Wharton’s masterclass against Tottenham shows why Man Utd fans cannot ‘write off’ the Crystal Palace midfielder
The Crystal Palace defeat to Manchester United already feels like a distant memory after Adam Wharton’s impact for the Eagles against Tottenham on Thursday.
Oliver Glasner’s men trailed Tottenham 1-0 after Dominic Solanke broke the deadlock in the 34th minute after the struggling Spurs suffered a complete collapse.
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Ismaila Sarr cancelled out Dominic Solanke’s opener from the spot-kick six minutes later before Wharton’s assist-making magic was felt in first-half injury time.
Wharton’s attacking influence showed with a clever through-ball inside the Tottenham box and an onrushing Jorgen Strand Larsen produced a superb finish.
Jorgen Strand Larsen netted straight through the legs of Guglielmo Vicario to put Palace 2-1 up, but Manchester United-linked Wharton was far from done on the day.
Wharton’s effective passing range was shown minutes later after he clipped a Bruno Fernandes-esque ball through and an onrushing Ismaila Sarr punished Spurs again.
An outstretched — and equally helpless — Guglielmo Vicario could do nothing but watch Sarr poke the ball past him and into the back of the Tottenham net.
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You have £100m to spend on a midfielder – who are YOU buying, Elliot Anderson or Adam Wharton?
Or is there another realistic player you would sign instead? Let us know who!
Anderson or Wharton graphic
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Adam Wharton’s assist-making performance for Crystal Palace shows exactly what Man Utd needed against Newcastle
The way Wharton carved apart Tottenham’s already fragile defence like a red-hot knife cutting through butter showed his midfield effectiveness for United fans.
Glasner subbed off Wharton in the 81st minute for Will Hughes in Palace’s 3-1 away win over Tottenham, but the England star left the pitch with his head held high.
Compared with his ineffective performance against United, Wharton looked like a completely different midfield animal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“The first goal, everybody will see Adam [Wharton’s] pass and Jorgen’s finish, but we lose the ball in the build-up at the edge of the box and the counter-press was great, especially Evann Guessand, the one who wins the ball back when they passed to their six,” Glasner said after the match, as per Crystal Palace’s official website.
The Palace manager added: “And because he makes a great movement to the ball and wins it back, Adam gets the ball, and then we know his quality with passing and Jorgen’s finishing quality.
“Of course, the second one was with Adam in the pocket and then with two or three touches and then finding this small gap. And Isma is always on his front foot making these runs, scoring goals and it was great to watch.”
Wharton’s range of passing, both close and long range, was exactly what Man Utd could have really used against 10-man Newcastle in Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat.
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