Crystal Palace handed major Adam Wharton injury boost ahead of Manchester United trip | OneFootball

England international has struggled with groin injury all season

Adam Wharton is in line to make his first appearance for Crystal Palace in almost 100 days when the Eagles face Manchester United on Sunday.

Wharton last played for Palace on October 30 in an Carabao Cup win over Aston Villa.

After that match, Wharton underwent surgery for a persistent groin problem which had been troubling him since he first suffered in on England duty at Euro 2024 last summer.

But Wharton has had false starts in his recovery since the surgery, complaining after training of pain that it was hoped would have been cleared up by the surgery.

The 20-year-old, who turns 21 next week, is now said to be free of pain, though, and has trained in full this week, as Standard Sport revealed.

He has travelled up to Manchester with the Palace squad ahead of Sunday afternoon’s league game at Old Trafford and is in contention to appear off the bench.

Wharton joined Palace last January from Blackburn Rovers for a fee of £18million rising to £22.5m with add-ons.

“I don’t know,” said Glasner, when asked how Wharton’s minutes will be managed over the coming weeks.

“Last week, when you asked me whether Adam could be in the squad against Manchester [United], my answer was no. No chance.

“Then I saw him training and it’s like he has never been away. I spoke to him today [Friday] and he feels good. Tired, of course., but he feels good.

“I said: ‘I want you to go with us’. I don’t know how many minutes he gets. Maybe he gets none, if it’s not necessary.

“I know he won’t get 45 minutes — that makes no sense — but if we need him for 10 or 15 or 20 [minutes], I trust him completely. Not just because he’s a nice guy, but because what I saw this week in training I was really impressed by.”