Adam Wharton is looking forward to an FA Cup final with Crystal Palace.
Crystal Palace player Adam Wharton’s stock is high.
The 21-year-old was instrumental in Palace reaching its third-ever FA Cup final—measured and combative in midfield against an outclassed Aston Villa in the first semifinal at Wembley Stadium on Saturday. A repeat of that performance against Manchester City on May 17 and the Eagles’ name may end up on the historic trophy for the first time.
While it’s been a topsy-turvy season for the South London club, starting poorly and gradually building some form, Wharton—injured during the middle section of the campaign—has long shown ability. That’s clearer on the eyes than statistics sheets, where he doesn’t tend to stand out.
The fascination with Wharton is his style. Inhabiting a small ego, you might call him a soccer minimalist. Never mind being the hero, he wants to get the ball, pass it (at the perfect weight), and give the rest of the team a platform to play at their optimum. Much of the game’s beauty lies in simplicity, the fundamentals each one does for the whole. Wharton does them expertly.
In market terms, English talents often come at a premium and are perhaps overvalued, a topic explored well by this research article in 2023. However, an operator like Wharton, a self-contained personality, is easy to undervalue, as he quietly goes about his art form with minimal fuss. And given that central midfielders, especially those defensively apt, are prized commodities in the modern game, his market worth is plausibly more than €50 million ($57 million). Many estimations have Wharton below that mark.
On his muses, Wharton, who enjoys passing forward, told SCOUTED last summer, “More casual watchers probably won’t realize how much players like (Sergio) Busquets or Rodri affect the game or how valuable they are. That’s why I like to take different bits from lots of top players. But I’m my own player in my own way. And that’s just as important.”
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Palace may struggle to hold onto the number 20 this year. And it’s revealing that Wharton has previously mentioned Spanish or Spain-based players—Barcelona’s old-hand Frenkie de Jong another. While the treble-hunting Blaugrana appears strong in central midfield, Real Madrid doesn’t, with a yawning gap sometimes separating rows of defenders and strikers in matches. Could young Wharton become a transfer option for Los Blancos as their campaign threatens to peter out?
The former Blackburn Rovers player has the skills to play anywhere. But he’s also part of an exciting project now. If coach Oliver Glasner achieves more consistency next season, Palace might challenge for a place in European competition, where the Austrian boss has pedigree. Wharton also has an exciting challenge to break into England’s lineup as the Thomas Tuchel properly era takes off.
A perfectionist who still has lots to prove, one thing is sure: Wharton is ready for more.
