Liverpool Must Pursue Adam Wharton Before Transfer Deadline
Phil Thompson has thrown down the gauntlet to Liverpool’s hierarchy, insisting they must “go all out” to prise Adam Wharton away from Crystal Palace before the transfer window shuts.
The former Liverpool defender believes the 22-year-old England international is exactly the kind of midfielder Andoni Iraola needs as he prepares for a gruelling first season in charge at Anfield.
Midfield running on empty
Liverpool head into the 2026/27 campaign worryingly light in central midfield. Curtis Jones is on the brink of swapping Merseyside for Milan, with the academy graduate set to join Inter Milan, and the gaps behind him are stark.
As it stands, Iraola will start Sunday’s opener at St. James’ Park against Newcastle with just three senior central midfielders: Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch.
Szoboszlai remains a bright spot, having been one of Liverpool’s standout performers last season and winning the club’s men’s player of the year award. Mac Allister and Gravenberch, though, went backwards under Arne Slot, their form dipping at precisely the wrong time in Liverpool’s evolution.
For a side expected to challenge on multiple fronts and play at Iraola’s relentless tempo, Thompson views the current situation as bordering on reckless.
Wharton at the top of the list
Wharton has hovered around Liverpool’s radar for some time. Manchester City recently tested Palace’s resolve with an inquiry, only to be firmly knocked back. Palace want to keep him. That much is clear.
Thompson thinks Liverpool should test that resolve anyway.
Speaking on the BOYLE Sports and Footy Accumulators podcast, No Tippy Tappy Football, he made his stance plain: “Adam Wharton is a player that I would be interested in signing for Liverpool.
“I can’t understand why nobody, in all this transfer merry-go-round, has picked him up this summer.
“He is one that you talk about in terms of having good character. At a football club, besides talent, you need people of good sort, and I've always looked at Wharton and thought he's a good character.
“I think he’s probably the next player Crystal Palace will have to sell, because they have to sell one a year for big money.”
The message is simple: if Palace are eventually going to cash in, Liverpool should be at the front of the queue.
Iraola’s rebuild still short
While the Wharton debate rumbles on, Iraola does at least have fresh faces elsewhere in the squad. Liverpool travel to Newcastle with three summer signings available: defenders Jeremy Jacquet and Ronald Araujo, plus winger Victor Munoz.
The Barcola saga, though, underlines the sense of a rebuild still in motion. Liverpool’s pursuit of Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola remains unresolved, leaving another attacking piece up in the air as the season kicks off.
Thompson, looking at the wider picture, is adamant Liverpool cannot stop here.
“Liverpool still need four, maybe five, players in different positions,” he said. “Defensively, certainly; maybe a midfield player and a wide player too, because you need two quality players for every position.
“We had a massive spend last season and everybody's saying, 'how can they do it?' You look at the investment we get into our football clubs, the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United. When you see them traveling the world, it shows that they're the two biggest football clubs in the world.”
The demand at that level is unforgiving. Depth is not a luxury; it’s survival.
For Thompson, Wharton sits right at the heart of that argument. If Liverpool truly intend to live with the best, the next few weeks must show it in the market, not just in the rhetoric.
