For years the joke has been Manchester United never replaced Michael Carrick in their midfield and that is the missing link. Well, Michael Carrick’s spiritual nephew is just sitting right there and his name is Adam Wharton.
Like Carrick, Wharton lacks the pizzaz of many of his midfield counterparts. He’s not a monster tackler or ball winner, he doesn’t have a booming shot, he’s not a loud personality. But the dude can pass. He’s a calming presence on the ball in the middle of the field and he can move
it forward.
Wharton operates all over the pitch but has a tendency to shade towards the right side.
Which would be a perfect fit for Manchester United because guess where Kobbie Mainoo likes to take the majority of his touches?
The two would balance each other out while, crucially, giving United a ball progressor in the middle of the park. Last season United relied heavily on Bruno Fernandes to do the ball progressing and creativity in the final third. He had a career year but Bruno will be turning 32 years old in September. He’s not going to perform at this level forever. The key to maxing out his longevity is to start reducing his responsibilities. Adding a player in midfield who could progress the ball into the final third so Bruno can focus more on creating goal scoring chances will go a long way in that regard.
Wharton may not create a ton of chances but he possess an ability to move the ball vertically into the box that Mainoo just doesn’t have.
Wharton is classified by the Futi app as a “central orchestrator,” exactly the type of player United have been missing in their midfield. He values progressive passing between the lines rather than opting for the safe sideways passes to move the ball around a block – though it should be noted that while playing for Palace, Wharton rarely ever faced a low block. Direct passing was encouraged from Oliver Glasner and there was often plenty of space to do it.
The knock on Wharton has been that, unlike Anderson, he’s a bit lacking on the defensive parts of his game and could be a liability off the ball. Wharton may not be the most active defender among Premier League midfielders but I cannot take claims of him being a liability seriously. For the last three years Wharton has played for Crystal Palace, a side that averages less than 50 percent possession in almost every game. The overwhelming majority of Wharton’s Premier League minutes have come playing out of possession, he’s very experienced in this realm and was hardly a liability. Crystal Palace have been excellent defensively during his time there.
Back in April, Palace reportedly placed a £70-85 million price tag on Wharton. However, there’s no doubt that City agreeing a £115 million for Elliott Anderson will reset the market and have Palace dreaming of £100+ million for Wharton. That’s far more than what United would have had to pay for him when he was offered to the club in January 2023 before signing with Palace for £18 million. United rejected him back then due to what they perceived would be bad optics of signing a player from the Championship. Play stupid games win stupid prizes I guess?
While United will have to pay (literally) to fix their previous mistake, it’s far better to bite the bullet than to make the same mistake twice.
