Phil Thompson Urges Liverpool to Pursue Adam Wharton
Phil Thompson has urged Liverpool to stop hesitating and throw their weight behind a move for Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton – or risk walking into the new season badly under-equipped in the middle of the pitch.
The former Liverpool captain believes the club cannot afford to ignore the 22-year-old any longer, especially with Curtis Jones on the brink of leaving for Inter Milan. Jones’ departure would strip Andoni Iraola’s squad down to just three senior central midfielders: Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch.
On paper, that looks light. In reality, with Iraola demanding high intensity and Liverpool facing another heavy schedule, it looks reckless.
Szoboszlai remains a pillar to build around after a standout campaign that ended with the club’s men’s player of the year award. Mac Allister and Gravenberch, though, went backwards under Arne Slot, their influence fading as last season wore on. Now Iraola inherits a midfield department that feels one injury away from a crisis.
Thompson sees the solution in south London.
Wharton has hovered around Liverpool’s radar for some time and recently attracted interest from Manchester City, who made an enquiry to Palace about the England international. Palace shut that down firmly. They want to keep him. They know what they have.
Thompson thinks Liverpool should test that resolve.
Speaking on BOYLE Sports and Footy Accumulators’ podcast, “No Tippy Tappy Football”, he made his stance clear: Wharton is exactly the sort of character and talent he believes Liverpool should be targeting. Thompson highlighted not just the midfielder’s ability, but his temperament – the kind of presence he feels every elite dressing room needs.
In his view, Palace will eventually have to cash in.
He expects Wharton to be the next big sale out of Selhurst Park, continuing a pattern of the club moving on one major asset each year for significant money. Liverpool, he argues, should be positioning themselves at the front of that queue now rather than watching from a distance as another rival snaps him up.
While the Wharton debate rumbles on, Liverpool’s business elsewhere remains incomplete. The drawn-out pursuit of Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola is still unresolved, leaving Iraola preparing for Sunday’s Premier League opener at St. James’ Park with only three new faces confirmed: defenders Jeremy Jacquet and Ronald Araujo, plus winger Victor Munoz.
For Thompson, that is nowhere near enough.
He believes Liverpool need four, possibly five, more signings before the window shuts – with priority on defensive reinforcements, at least one midfielder and another wide option. His argument is simple: a club with Liverpool’s ambitions must have two high-level players for every position if it wants to live with the game’s superpowers over a full season.
He pointed to last year’s heavy spending as proof that the club can act decisively when it chooses, and to the global reach of Liverpool and Manchester United as evidence of the financial muscle available to both. Their pre-season tours, he argued, underline their status as the sport’s two biggest clubs.
The question now is whether Liverpool match that status in the market – or step into the new campaign gambling that three senior midfielders will somehow be enough.
