Liverpool move into pole position for Adam Wharton with an Anfield audition on Saturday
There is a market for Adam Wharton, and Liverpool now look to be at the front of it. The Reds have registered formal interest in the 22-year-old Crystal Palace midfielder and are leading the race ahead of Manchester United and Real Madrid, with Palace insisting on at least 80 million pounds for a player they only signed two years ago. The timing is neat. Wharton is set to be fit for Palace's trip to Anfield on Saturday, April 25, an unscheduled job interview in front of the people he might soon be working for.
Why Liverpool want him
Arne Slot's midfield rebuild has been flagged all season. The profiles of Curtis Jones and Alexis Mac Allister are both uncertain this summer, and the club's recruitment team has spent months scouting a long-term number six. Wharton fits that brief neatly. He is left-footed, comfortable under pressure, reads the game early and is trusted to start games by an England manager who is not easily impressed. For a coach like Slot, who leans on a controlling midfield pivot, that is close to the ideal profile.
The reporting out of Anfield this week is that the scouting work is already done and the shortlist has narrowed. Liverpool have made contact with Palace to test the ground, and internal discussions have moved from whether to pursue Wharton to how to structure a deal.
Palace are not easy sellers
Chairman Steve Parish and sporting director Matt Hobbs have a recent template for how this plays out, and it has not favoured the buyers. Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze and Marc Guehi have all left Selhurst Park in the last year and a half, and Palace have learned to set the number and wait for it. Wharton is under contract until June 2029, giving them a strong negotiating hand. Eighty million pounds is where conversations start rather than where they finish.
There is a complicating factor here, which is that Palace are pushing for European football next season through the Conference League and do not want to weaken a squad that has just won a first-ever FA Cup and beaten Liverpool twice already this campaign. If they can afford to say no to 80 million, they might try to.
A very real audition
Wharton missed Monday's 0-0 draw with West Ham after taking an adductor knock in Palace's Conference League defeat at Fiorentina. Oliver Glasner confirmed on Friday that he has trained fully and is available to start at Anfield, calling it "mostly a precaution more or less". That puts him back in the middle of the park on a stage the Liverpool recruitment team will be watching closely, against the exact group of players he might soon be lining up alongside.
The background noise around transfers like these usually gets in the way of the football. This one should cut through it. A good 90 minutes from Wharton at Anfield does not finalise a deal, but it does not hurt either. A quiet one would not kill the interest, but it would give Manchester United and Real Madrid a foothold.
The summer picture
Liverpool are fifth in the Premier League on 55 points with five games to go, still with something to play for but needing a couple of results to lock in a top-four finish. Whatever happens Saturday, the midfield rebuild is the main summer project. Wharton is not the only name under discussion, but he is the one the club appears to be moving fastest on. For now, Palace will sit tight and let the numbers do the talking.
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