A distinguished Liverpool-focused journalist isn’t ruling out an Anfield swoop for one ‘high stage’ midfielder this month, though it’d require ‘loopy’ cash to tug it off.
David Lynch was talking on the Born N’Purple podcast (by way of 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 event.
The reporter said: “Adam Wharton was positively somebody [LFC] watched at Blackburn, so that they clearly sort of preferred him round then, the recruitment employees, so I believe that’s fascinating.
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“The massive downside there’s clearly what would Palace ask for? They’ve solely simply signed him, he’s simply turn into 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 cut price, however let’s see.
“I don’t assume that’s one you possibly can confidently rule out simply on the idea that they’ve preferred him previously. I’m certain from what they’ve seen at Palace they received’t have gone off him.
“That’s one possibly to keep watch over however that’s actual tentative stuff to be sincere. It’s a participant they’ve preferred previously so let’s see if something comes of that.”
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As Lynch identified, Liverpool’s curiosity in Wharton does certainly pre-date his arrival at Palace – the Reds had been credited with curiosity within the midfielder final November when he was nonetheless at Blackburn.
He price the Eagles an preliminary £18m within the winter switch window (BBC Sport), however together with his inventory rising exponentially since then – England teammate Declan Rice dubbed him a ‘high stage’ participant on the eve of Euro 2024 (Sky Sports activities) – the 20-year-old may absolutely command a far greater 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 foremost leagues in that timeframe, whereas he additionally ranks within the 84th percentile for interceptions per sport with 1.39 (FBref).
These figures recommend that Wharton would supply 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 stage.
In reality, we don’t envisage the Reds making a big-money supply for the Palace enforcer this month given how tough it’d inevitably be to influence the Eagles to promote, however he actually matches the profile of participant who’d be preferrred for the venture that Arne Slot is striving to create on Merseyside.
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