Crystal Palace spent 2026 fighting on two fronts: chasing a European trophy and fending off questions about the future of Adam Wharton. One battle they won. The other feels delayed rather than avoided.
Across both transfer windows, Wharton’s name never drifted far from the rumour mill. Palace, locked into a serious tilt at the UEFA Europa Conference League, simply were never going to cash in midway through the campaign. January came and went. So did the bids Palace expected. None landed with enough force to break their resolve.
The real fireworks arrived in the summer instead – just not around Wharton.
A big-spending window at Selhurst Park revolved around other names. Anderson, Fernandez, Carlos Baleba, Andrey Santos, Morgan Rogers: they dominated the headlines and the outlay. Wharton, meanwhile, stayed put, a central figure on the pitch but curiously quiet in the market.
Inside the club, nobody expects that silence to last.
“Next summer he will be gone, for sure”
Clinton Morrison, a former Palace striker who knows the rhythms of this club as well as anyone, did not bother dressing it up. Speaking to GOAL via Freebets.com, he cut straight through the noise when asked about the Blackburn academy graduate’s future.
“I'll be honest with you, next summer he will be gone, for sure,” Morrison said.
“Palace can't keep Adam Wharton without a shadow of doubt. If you've seen all these midfielders that are moving, Adam Wharton is just as good as all these midfielders. He'll be gone in the summer. I think they'll have another year.”
That “another year” is the key phrase. Palace navigated one window of serious interest. Morrison is convinced they will not manage a second.
“There were a lot of clubs that were interested in him anyway in the summer. But they can't afford to lose Adam Wharton when they already lost [Maxence] Lacroix and other big players.
“He'll be gone next summer. He's a top player and I've got so much time and admiration for him. So I know for a fact he won't be there in the summer. Even in January, I think teams will come knocking. But I don't think Palace will do business there. But next summer, I think the chairman already knows he won't be at that football club.”
It sounds less like an opinion and more like a timetable.
A £100m midfielder in waiting?
The market around elite midfielders has gone wild. Fees that once belonged only to generational forwards now attach themselves to deep-lying playmakers and box-to-box engines. Against that backdrop, the obvious question hangs over Wharton: does he join the £100m club?
Given the sums already being thrown around, Morrison believes he sits right in that bracket.
Asked if Wharton’s fee could soar beyond £100m ($135m), he did not hesitate. “He's in that ballpark. And the chairman won't take no less than that, for sure. I know what he's like.
“You get big money from him because he's a special player. And he's young. He's at a good age. He's 22 years of age. So he's still got loads of football left in him and he hasn't even peaked yet.
“Listen, I know what the chairman's like. If you want to prise Adam Wharton away, you're going to have to pay some big money. But there is a lot of money with all these midfielders that are going for these ridiculous prices. So midfielders are more important now than anyone. It looks like that with the money that's being spent on them.”
Palace, then, are not bracing for a polite enquiry. They are waiting for a statement bid.
The queue is already forming
The interest is no secret. Manchester United have tracked Wharton before, even if they moved in a different direction during the last window, adding Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans to bulk up their midfield options. That business did not close the door on Wharton; it simply postponed any move.
Liverpool have also been credited with a serious look. Their midfield rebuild has already taken big strides, but the sense lingers that one more high-level controller could complete the picture. When the current campaign winds down and the dust settles, Anfield may well be among the first to test Palace’s resolve.
And the pull is not limited to England. Wharton’s profile and poise invite a broader conversation. There have been suggestions that he could bypass the traditional domestic step up and leap straight to a European heavyweight. On talent alone, few would argue he looks out of place in that company.
At 22, with a European run under his belt and his reputation climbing with every month, Wharton stands exactly where the modern game loves to pounce: young, proven, and nowhere near his ceiling.
Palace have enjoyed the rise. They have protected the asset. But in a market that pays a premium for exactly this kind of midfielder, the real question is not who comes for Adam Wharton.
It is who can afford to walk away.
