Crystal Palace finished tenth in the Premier League last season, changing managers halfway through the campaign, and navigating their way to their joint-best finish since hitting the top flight.
The Eagles spent €67.80m (£56.5m) during the 2023/24 season, making six permanent signings, two of which came in the January window. Palace didn’t make any money from sales that season, but club legend, Wilfried Zaha, did leave on a free.
Matheus Franca, Dean Henderson, Daniel Munoz, Rob Holding and Jefferson Lerma were five of the six signings, but the best of the bunch was one made in January, who could turn out to be their most valuable asset since Michael Olise.
Michael Olise at Crystal Palace
The 22-year-old made 90 appearances in all competitions for the Eagles, scoring 16 goals, providing 25 assists, and totalling 5,782 minutes played.
Last season, in just 19 Premier League games, Olise scored ten goals, and provided six assists, thriving in an inside right position for Oliver Glasner, which led to the Frenchman attracting interest from Europe’s elite.
Olise was sold to Bayern Munich in the summer, raking in a fee of around £50.8m. Yet they could still have a player on his way to being worth double that of Olise, bought in the 2023/24 season, and already showing signs of a world-class midfielder in the making.
Crystal Palace’s £100m star in the making
Adam Wharton was signed from Blackburn for a fee of around £18m, with possible add-ons of £4m. Since joining the club, the 20-year-old midfielder has made 26 appearances, yet to score a goal, providing four assists, and totaling 1,978 minutes played.
The English midfielder is already seen as a similar profile to Declan Rice and Bruno Guimaraes, according to FBref, both of whom are perceived to be two of the best midfielders in the league. Wharton is currently absent, having had groin surgery, after playing in pain for the past couple of months.
Wharton vs Rice vs Guimaraes comparison | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Stats (per 90 mins) | Wharton | Rice | Guimaraes |
Progressive Carries | 0.87 | 2.13 | 1.38 |
Progressive Passes | 8.84 | 5.82 | 6.51 |
Passes Attempted | 52.5 | 50.6 | 50.4 |
Pass Completion % | 78.7% | 82.8% | 82.0% |
Shots Total | 1.35 | 1.07 | 1.32 |
Passes into Final Third | 5.65 | 4.02 | 5.23 |
Key Passes | 1.16 | 1.23 | 0.64 |
Shot-Creating Actions | 3.77 | 2.79 | 2.75 |
Tackles | 2.61 | 1.72 | 2.48 |
Interceptions | 1.35 | 1.07 | 0.93 |
Stats taken from FBref | |||
Wharton is already showing his class at such a young age, bettering Rice and Guimaraes in seven of the ten metrics analysed above. His ability to make progressive passes, dictate play during build-up in a composed fashion, and still make defensive actions to protect his side in transition, makes him an extremely valuable asset, even at just 20 years old.
A pass is considered progressive if the distance between the starting point and the next touch is at least 10 meters closer to the opponent’s goal or any completed pass into the penalty area.
The fact he makes more tackles and interceptions than Rice and Guimaraes, whilst also having better numbers than them for passing metrics, shows just how good he is, especially when you consider the former West Ham United skipper was signed by the Gunners for a fee of around £105m, while the Brazilian was believed to have a release clause of £100m over the summer.
Wharton is already seen as the ninth most valuable defensive midfielder under 21-years-old, by CIES Football Observatory, but with interest being speculated from Manchester City and Liverpool, the midfield sensation could soon be seen as a £100m man in the mould of Rice and Guimaraes, eclipsing the value of their most recent high profile sale, Olise.
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