‘We Have Got a Plan’—Man Utd Given Adam Wharton Transfer Challenge

Wharton’s clear career ambitions have been laid out by his agent.

Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton is a wanted man. / Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

James Featherstone, the agent of Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton, mapped out some of the steps his client has lined up to achieve his ultimate goal of becoming a regular England international. One of those staging posts is playing Champions League football, effectively challenging any prospective suitor to qualify for Europe’s premier club competition.

Manchester United do not currently fit that brief.

The Red Devils have long been linked with Wharton as one of their top midfield targets. The upright defensive midfielder isn’t blessed with the lashings of physicality which Ruben Amorim has tended to favour, but he does boast a penetrative passing range that would lubricate an expensive frontline which can still lack some service.

Wharton also has ample experience of operating in the 3-4-2-1 system that is tattooed on to every teamsheet Amorim draws up—even if Palace do operate differently from that shape. What Wharton does not have experience of, however, is Champions League football.

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It has been a prodigious rise for the Blackburn Rovers academy graduate, who had never played a top-flight game before the start of 2024. Palace extended their stellar track record of pilfering the Championship’s best gems with the acquisition of Wharton in February 2024 and by the end of the season he had been called up to the England squad for Euro 2024.

Adam Wharton has won three England caps and is hoping for many more. / Joe Prior/Visionhaus/Getty Images

Gareth Southgate didn’t give Wharton a single minute during England’s run to the final and the 21-year-old would have to wait until November to make his competitive debut under Thomas Tuchel. Featherstone stressed that international recognition is Wharton’s top priority and explained the process of how he plans on nailing down that starting berth.

“When he was at Blackburn we sat down and spoke about shooting for the stars and playing for England,” Featherstone outlined on talkSPORT. “So how do you get there? Personally I think to play for England you have to play Champions League, to play in the Champions League you have got to play for one of the top teams in one of the top leagues.

“That jump to a Champions League team [straight from the Championship], I think you can get lost. The plan below that was to play for a Premier League team.”

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Wharton in No Rush to Leave Palace

Adam Wharton (left) has tangled with Man Utd this season. / Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images

Featherstone’s logic is somewhat undermined by Elliot Anderson. The fellow Manchester United midfield target is one of the first names on Tuchel’s teamsheet—in the role that Wharton would otherwise occupy—despite playing for Europa League side Nottingham Forest.

Perhaps with that in mind, the agent was keen to stress patience. “We have got a plan,” he insisted. “He [Wharton] is 21. I have to check myself to remember that every now and then. It doesn’t have to be achieved yesterday, today or this moment.

“He has got his in-game, in-season targets and goals. He has got to do his bit and the rest will look after itself in a very structured, calm way to ultimately add value and maximise his ability.”

United would still have to qualify for the Champions League to fit Wharton’s criteria. Heading into Monday’s clash with rock-bottom Wolverhampton Wanderers, Amorim’s side sit 12th in the division, yet only three points adrift of the top five—given the success of English clubs in European competition this year, fifth is likely to once again be enough to qualify for the continental elite. Amorim certainly isn’t getting ahead of himself.

“To go in the position of Champions League in the next weeks, yes, it is realistic,” he reasoned. “The future, I don’t know. I want to continue near that position next week. Then the rest we will see.”

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