Adam Wharton thumped the Amex stadium turf in frustration.
He was three days short of his 20th birthday, making his Premier League debut and, having spent only six minutes on the pitch, the brutal reality of Premier League football had just hit him.
Taking too much time on the ball, Brighton & Hove Albion’s Pascal Gross took advantage and robbed Wharton of possession. Moments later Facundo Buonanotte scored and Brighton were 3-0 up, the game effectively over.
Advertisement
Wharton’s anger at himself was obvious. This was the most chastening afternoon of the season for Palace — they eventually succumbed 4-1 to their bitter rivals, with under-pressure manager Roy Hodgson taunted relentlessly by the home crowd — and Wharton’s first appearance could not have been much more testing.
But the youngster felt no sense of failure. Instead, he saw it as an opportunity to learn. Moments after making that error, he was demanding the ball again from Palace’s defence, turning, carrying it forward and progressing his side up the pitch.
Wharton had learned that, in the Premier League, there was not the same time and space found in the Championship, where he had spent two seasons with Blackburn Rovers before moving to Palace in January in a deal worth up to £22million ($27m) including add-ons.
Wharton has started every match since that Brighton defeat and now looks every inch a Premier League player, always looking to be proactive with his passing. The Athletic spoke to someone who knows Wharton well, who asked to remain anonymous to protect their relationship, who said that Wharton considers a pass backwards to be a failure.
His former Blackburn manager Jon Dahl Tomasson agrees. “I don’t want passes sideways or backwards, we need to score goals and entertain,” he says. “If you play too many sideways and backwards it’s too slow and not entertaining. He’s one of those players who plays forward passes and impacts the game.”
Wharton’s forward-thinking suggests he is similar in mindset to Palace manager Oliver Glasner, who also prefers not to dwell on the past.
Wharton, who is from Salesbury in Lancashire, north-west England, has had to adapt to life away in London. It is easy to forget that he is not only a young footballer but a young man still learning life skills. Wharton is only now, for example, having to cook for himself. That, too, can make things more of a challenge but there is little that seems to faze him.
Advertisement
Even when coming up against Premier League champions Manchester City, a game in which he claimed an assist for Palace’s opening goal, or title-chasing Liverpool at Anfield last Sunday, he has stood up to be counted in the midfield.
Despite his wiry frame and the step up in intensity of the Premier League, it is the mental strain that he has found the most taxing. Wharton has realised that players in the top flight must commit to a decision quickly due to the lack of time afforded to you by opponents. The discipline required can be as draining as the physical energy expended. It is not problematic, but it still requires acclimatisation.
Wharton has been immersed in sport all his life. In addition to playing for England Schoolboys, he spent many of his formative years watching his father, John, play for Salesbury Cricket Club. Wharton’s eldest brother, Scott — who Adam played alongside at Blackburn — also played at Salesbury, while his mother, Helen, is a PE teacher. There is no question that some of the qualities he has demonstrated will have been influenced by that background.
Despite both Scott and middle brother Simon, who works as a joiner as well as turning out at non-League level, being players, Wharton is his own person. He does not seek out any specific advice from his siblings beyond what would come up naturally in conversation. The experience of top-flight football is sufficient.
Wharton’s self-assurance is obvious in how he speaks about his own game.
“Everything’s improving,” he said after Palace’s 1-0 win over Liverpool on Sunday. “My aggressiveness out of possession, on the ball, off the ball. The more I play it’s only going to keep on improving.
“I never really come away from a game satisfied. There’s always parts to my game and moments I can do better. No one is perfect. I do look at the positives but I’m always trying to look at the moments where I can do better. I feel I’m getting better with every game and I’m feeling good.
Advertisement
“I’ve played more minutes than I thought I would. It is definitely a step up. You have to step up or you’re going to get found out and then you won’t play. But I seem to have done alright — I’m still playing.”
Wharton speaks confidently, but there is a humbleness to him, too. Representation with England at youth level has been a welcome reward for his progress, first in the north-west and now in London with Palace. An England Under-21 debut arrived in March but his focus is mostly on ensuring his promising start at domestic level continues.
“There’s no international break until after the season,” he said. “So for the next six weeks, I’m all Crystal Palace. I just want to do my best for the team. Any international recognition is just a bonus. It’s not really in my mind at the minute. I’m just trying to play as best I can and help the team.”
He has quickly become integral at Palace. His passing ability and positive intention means much of their attacking play goes through him. Since his debut on February 3, no Palace player has been involved in more sequences leading to shots per game, suggesting he is crucial to chance creation.
He averages 2.1 progressive passes per game (using The Athletic’s definition, a pass that moves the ball at least 25 per cent closer to the centre of the opposition goal) which illustrates his ability to thread passes through the lines and move Palace up the pitch.
That was most apparent in the way he threaded a perfect through ball for Jean-Philippe Mateta to run onto and score in Palace’s defeat by Manchester City last month. It was demonstrated during the 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest in March in which he played a pass from halfway to cut through the Forest defence and present Eberechi Eze with a glorious chance which was saved by Matz Sels. There are other examples, but his vision and execution is matched by his ambition.
“Adam learned very quickly from playing with the youth,” says Tomasson, who is currently manager at Sweden. “You immediately saw his quality on the ball — it’s Champions League level. To be able to play forward is a quality you need in the Premier League if you want to impact the game.
Advertisement
“He’s made for bigger things. He has a very clear idea about what he wants to do — he wants to go to the top. When you can play in the Championship at that age, especially in his second season when he played every game, you get better.
“You can always improve. Adam has that mindset to become the best Adam Wharton. He’s a great player on the eye and a joy to watch. He’s quiet but he knows what he wants.”
His penchant for a challenge has not gone unnoticed either. Only Daniel Munoz and Tyrick Mitchell have made more tackles since he joined, while he is just behind Munoz in his true-tackles per 1000 touches.
True tackles are a combination of tackles won, tackles lost and fouls committed. He has a 53.1 per cent true tackle win rate, which, while not particularly high, is impacted by the number of fouls he makes (there have been nine in 10 appearances). That speaks to his decisiveness and tenacity.
It is Wharton’s slick, sharp interplay with those passes that has stood out as much as his eagerness to enter into challenges. He plays with a fearlessness and level head which has attracted significant praise — Jamie Redknapp, the Sky TV pundit and former England midfielder, said he was his man of the match against Liverpool.
Wharton will need to continue working on developing physically and becoming more robust, but Glasner, who does not offer individual praise lightly, is pleased with his development.
“He’s doing well,” Glasner said. “He’s creating good moments, especially with his passing and his pre-orientation he can solve many situations where he is under pressure. Regarding his dynamic, his intensity in the duels he can improve.
“That’s what we are working with him on but still keeping his threats and getting him into situations where he can pass and he finds it more and more.
“He has a very important defensive role to win the duels and be ready for the second ball. In the Premier League this is a bit faster than the Championship but he is learning very quickly.”
GO DEEPER
Why Palace believe teenage signing Wharton is worth £22m
He has already become another Championship success story for Palace’s recruitment team, after Eze, Michael Olise and Marc Guehi, and has taken to the Premier League better than anyone would have expected.
An eagerness to learn, an excellent attitude and work ethic combined with his technical quality have all combined to produce rapid progress. There is undoubtedly more to come.
“I believe he can and will play for England,” Tomasson says. “If you are Champions League level on the ball then you need to play Champions League football all the time and I think he will do that.”
(Top photo: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
