Manchester City are always on the lookout for top players and prospects.
The club have been very successful over the years in the transfer market, with Txiki Begiristain and his team helping to provide Pep Guardiola with all the tools he needs to succeed.
Manchester City won a fourth straight Premier League title in 2023/24, which is a feat that no other club has ever managed before. And in 2022/23, City won the Treble.
It has been a wonderful period for the club, and so much of that has been down to recruitment.
In recent days, Manchester City have been linked with a player who could well be a generational talent – and he is absolutely tailor-made to don the sky-blue shirt.
Adam Wharton to Manchester City transfer link was absolutely inevitable
In January 2024, Crystal Palace beat off competition from other clubs to land Adam Wharton from Blackburn for around £22 million all in.
A few eyebrows were raised at such a price being paid for a Championship prospect. But it did not take long for Wharton to make that fee look an absolute snip.
The 20-year-old has made just 16 appearances for the Eagles, but has stood out in near enough every single one of those outings.
Wharton was so good for the Eagles under Oliver Glasner that he is now heading to Euro 2024 with England.
Wharton has mainly operated as a defensive midfielder for Palace, although he sometimes has a license to push forward and go more from box-to-box. It doesn’t really matter what Glasner asks of him, because he will perform the role to the highest standard regardless.
The £35,000-a-week starlet is just so calm and composed on the ball, and always seems to have acres of space around him. That is no accident, it is pure tactical intelligence and spatial awareness.
And then in terms of his actual use of the ball, Wharton – described by Declan Rice as ‘top level’ – is impressive. His first thought is always to look forward to see if there is a teammate between the lines. He is on record as saying he loves playing line-breaking passes, because he himself used to be an attacking midfielder, and can appreciate the difficulty of the ball.
His pass completion rate for 2023/24 – across stints with Blackburn and Palace – was 80.7% (via fbref.com), which is really good going considering he does take risks trying to break lines.
City reportedly view him as a potential future signing, and it would certainly be an exciting move by the club.
Wharton would find the perfect mentor in Rodri
Given these traits, Wharton seems like he would be a great fit at City who are obviously one of, if not the best team on the ball in the world.
Who knows when and if City will make a play for Wharton. But if a move did happen then he would definitely be in very capable hands.
Rodri is the finest holding midfielder in the world and would simply be the perfect mentor for Wharton at the Etihad.
The Spaniard dominates every game he plays, but has also recently started chipping in with more goals and assists. In 2023/24 he finished with nine goals and 14 assists.
Wharton hasn’t scored yet for Palace but has tabled three assists. For Blackburn, he scored four and assisted five in 51 games. So the attacking output could improve, but obviously he’s just come onto the scene and has mainly played as a defensive midfielder.
Should get join City, those numbers would surely improve, just as they have for Rodri.