A distinguished Liverpool-focused journalist isn’t ruling out an Anfield swoop for one ‘high degree’ midfielder this month, though it’d require ‘loopy’ cash to tug it off.
David Lynch was talking on the Born N’Red podcast (through Playback) when he talked about the Reds’ long-standing curiosity in Adam Wharton, whose fairytale 2024 has seen him earn a Premier League transfer to Crystal Palace and make the England squad for a significant match.
The reporter said: “Adam Wharton was positively somebody [LFC] watched at Blackburn, so that they clearly type of favored him round then, the recruitment employees, so I believe that’s fascinating.
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“The large drawback there’s clearly what would Palace ask for? They’ve solely simply signed him, he’s simply turn out to be an England worldwide since then, his inventory has simply gone up and up and up. The payment may very well be loopy and they might strike a tough discount, however let’s see.
“I don’t assume that’s one you possibly can confidently rule out simply on the premise that they’ve favored him up to now. I’m certain from what they’ve seen at Palace they received’t have gone off him.
“That’s one possibly to control however that’s actual tentative stuff to be sincere. It’s a participant they’ve favored up to now so let’s see if something comes of that.”
As Lynch identified, Liverpool’s curiosity in Wharton does certainly pre-date his arrival at Palace – the Reds have been credited with curiosity within the midfielder final November when he was nonetheless at Blackburn.
He value the Eagles an preliminary £18m within the winter switch window (BBC Sport), however along with his inventory rising exponentially since then – England teammate Declan Rice dubbed him a ‘high degree’ participant on the eve of Euro 2024 (Sky Sports) – the 20-year-old might certainly command a far increased payment now.
A mean of three.33 tackles per 90 minutes over the previous yr locations him within the high 5% of positional friends in Europe’s 5 major leagues in that timeframe, whereas he additionally ranks within the 84th percentile for interceptions per recreation with 1.39 (FBref).
These figures counsel that Wharton would offer Liverpool with an uncompromising presence on the base of midfield, and somebody to carry down that place within the long-term at Anfield whereas already being confirmed at a excessive degree.
In reality, we don’t envisage the Reds making a big-money provide for the Palace enforcer this month given how tough it’d inevitably be to steer the Eagles to promote, however he definitely suits the profile of participant who’d be best for the mission that Arne Slot is striving to create on Merseyside.
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