Manchester City’s ambitious plans to sign Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton revealed by club insider | OneFootball

Crystal Palace and England international Adam Wharton is at the centre of strong transfer interest from within Manchester City, according to new reports.

The Premier League champions have been linked with a move for a new defensive midfielder for a number of months, largely due to internal concerns over an over-dependency on Rodri across the course of a season exceeding 60 matches.

The Spaniard himself has publicly declared his need for matches and game-time to be managed more carefully in future, with Manchester City starting the 28-year-old is many successive contests throughout the course of last season.

Speaking in early April following a UEFA Champions League quarter-final meeting with Real Madrid, Rodri admitted, “I do need a rest. Let’s see how we speak, how we live the situation. Sometimes it is what it is. I need to adjust. It [rest] is something we are planning, yes.”

And that search for a capable compliment to the player could be coming to an end very soon, with City transfer bosses identifying a name close to home within the English game as a potential candidate to come into Pep Guardiola’s squad and immediately support Rodri.

According to the information of Manchester City insider ‘Tolmie’s Hairdoo’ on X, the Etihad Stadium club’s original plan with regards to Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton was to wait another 12 months before making any move on the England international midfielder.

It is further revealed that there are ‘strong voices’ within the Premier League champions concerning Wharton, and sporting director Txiki Begiristain is a ‘massive advocate’ which could yet bring an approach forward during the ongoing summer transfer window.

Previous reports earlier this summer had already dismissed the idea of Adam Wharton moving on from his time at Crystal Palace, having only joined the club in the most-recent January transfer window.

With the player understood to be both happy and settled in London, as well as remaining content with continuing to improve under Palace boss Oliver Glasner, the likes of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, and Manchester City were bracing themselves for disappointment.

Despite the Englishman being signed by Crystal Palace from Blackburn Rovers for just £18 million, clubs can now already expect to be faced by a valuation north of £60 million, such has been the impressive nature of the player’s performances at Selhurst Park.