Liverpool are reportedly among several Premier League clubs in the transfer race for a teenage prodigy who’s lighting up the Championship this season.
According to 90min, the Reds are ‘long-term’ admirers of Adam Wharton, with the Blackburn Rovers midfielder also attracting interest from the likes of Brighton, Tottenham, Manchester United and Newcastle.
Their report appeared to indicate that Spurs may be the frontrunners for the 19-year-old, having ‘been closely and intently watching’ his recent performances at Ewood Park, along with having a good relationship with the Lancashire club owing to the summer acquisition of Ashley Phillips.
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Wharton has been a regular starter for Blackburn this season, being selected for a dozen Championship games and coming off the bench three times (WhoScored) while also giving a good account of himself away to Chelsea in the Carabao Cup at the start of November.
He’s earned glowing praise from his manager Jon Dahl Tomasson, who declared that the teenager has ‘a big future‘ and dubbed him a ‘Champions League level‘ player in terms of his use of the ball.
Someone else who could provide an accurate character reference is Tyler Morton, with the Liverpool midfielder playing alongside the teenager 13 times while on loan at Ewood Park last season (Transfermarkt).
A report from Football Talent Scout described Wharton as ‘a box to box player who has the stamina and work rate to be equally as effective on both ends of the pitch’, listing his main strengths as ‘vision, ball carrying, work rate, defensive aggression and IQ’.
He appears to fit the profile of the bespoke number 6 that the Reds are still seeking, while also offering enough in possession to make an impact further forward.
Having only racked up 39 senior games, none of those in the Premier League (Transfermarkt), he’d be a player for the future rather than the here-and-now at Liverpool, but he could be a potentially shrewd long-term pickup if the Anfield hierarchy ramp up their efforts to win the increasingly crowded race for his signature.