The reason why Brighton and Crystal Palace backed out of the Blackburn Rovers player race has been revealed.
Three Premier League clubs appeared to be on his tail, but they were unwilling to pay Rovers’ asking price.
According to Alan Nixon, Brighton and Crystal Palace both dropped out of the fight for Blackburn Rovers midfielder Adam Wharton after his club slapped a £20 million valuation on him.
According to the same newspaper, the arch-rivals had done their study on the teenager after he shone under Jon Dahl Tomasson previous season.
During the latter stages of the 2022/23 season, he even managed to stand out against last season’s Championship champions Burnley, displaying tremendous composure and class in the middle of the field for his current team.
Wharton was the subject of much speculation before establishing himself as a first-team regular, and he is proving why, with the midfielder adapting to senior football like a duck to water.
With the departure of Ben Brereton Diaz, he has probably become Rovers’ most prized asset and is only going to improve with more senior experience.
Despite being on the bench on opening day, he has started every league game for Tomasson since then and could keep his starting spot if he continues to impress and be consistent.
Adam Wharton is being pursued by the Wolves.
According to Nixon, Wolves bid £12 million for Wharton in the closing weeks of the transfer window.
That’s a lot of money for a player with only a few years of senior experience, but the Midlands club had the right to offer that much after Matheus Nunes moved to Premier League heavyweights Manchester City.
With such a wide disparity in valuations between Blackburn and Wolves on Wharton, they were unable to complete a deal for the teenager, but it will be intriguing to watch whether the top-tier club revives their interest in him at some time.
Why is Adam Wharton valued at £20 million by Blackburn Rovers?
Ewood Park officials believe they should have received a comparable sum to Bristol City when they sold Alex Scott to AFC Bournemouth.
Wharton is an expensive asset because he is young yet has senior experience, and he still has four years left on his contract at Ewood Park.
This has given Tomasson’s side the license to demand a huge amount for him.
Should Blackburn Rovers pay £20 million for Adam Wharton?
Because of the facts in Rovers’ favor, they have every right to impose that price tag on the adolescent.
Because he is under contract until 2027, they can adopt this attitude for the next three or four windows, and his price could climb considerably more during that time.
He should definitely be sold at some point to fund some improvements, but selling him at the appropriate time will be critical because they will want to obtain the most money for him.
If they wind up selling him for less than £20 million, which they should not aggressively seek, they should include a big sell-on provision because he might be sold for a significant sum in the future.
Even if he asks £20 million, a sell-on clause and add-ons should be included. Tomassson’s team must fully exploit their good bargaining position on the midfielder.
