Adam Wharton's next move is blindingly obvious amid Man City and Real Madrid exit talk

In years to come, we will perhaps look back on England’s agonisingly vanquished Euro 2024 squad and ask ourselves how it could be that in a team so sorely lacking in viable central midfield options, a talent as precocious as Adam Wharton was afforded not a single minute on the pitch. Alas, the answer in the short term is that after the failure of the Trent Alexander-Arnold experiment, the disappointment of the Conor Gallagher trial, and the eventual discovery of Kobbie Mainoo, the Crystal Palace starlet was just one rung too low on the ladder to make his mark. But all of that should change, and swiftly.

It is difficult to think of too many young players who have made the transition from Championship to Premier League football with such casual aplomb. Across 16 top flight outings since signing from Blackburn Rovers in January, the 20-year-old created 21 chances, successfully contested 48 tackles, registered three assists, and completed 562 passes. Indeed, it is in this context that he forced his way into Gareth Southgate’s plans in the first place.

And it is also for these reasons that he is beginning to attract attention from the upper echelons of European football. According to The Sun, Wharton is admired by the likes of Bayern Munich, Manchester City, and Real Madrid - among others.

The Selhurst Park faithful can rest relatively easy for now, however, because The Sun also go on to suggest that Wharton is ‘content to keep improving in Oliver Glasner’s side’ for the time being. That, combined with a contract that runs until 2029, would suggest that their midfield boy prince is going nowhere any time soon.

And that’s massively pleasing to hear. Far too often, we see young players fast-tracked from obscurity to the very, very top in no time whatsoever; sometimes it works out, other times it does not. But Wharton is a measured character, and one who you suspect boasts a great deal of patience. Why would he turn his back on a good thing with Palace to settle for a potentially reduced role with a continental heavyweight at such a crucial juncture in his career? Right now, the best thing for him is to continue playing regular minutes at the highest level, and to learn and develop in that way.

Plus, it’s not exactly like Palace are some kind of doomed project. Under Glasner, they are as exciting and promising a mid-table side as the Premier League has to offer, and the feeling is that if they can get their recruitment right this summer and avoid too many of their brightest talents leaving over the coming weeks, they could have a superb campaign in 2024/25.

If Wharton plays his part in that, as you would expect him to, then there is no reason why the interest surrounding him wouldn’t grow, or why he wouldn’t fetch an awful lot more than the £25 million or so online database Transfermarkt claim he is worth - although let’s face it, he is already valued at an awful lot more than that.

All of those are conversations for further down the line, though. Right now, all that matters is that Wharton is likely to stay put for the foreseeable future. If he does, he will be making the correct decision.