Chelsea’s strength in depth in central midfield looks as strong as any team in Europe right now. Therefore, it’s surprising to hear the Blues linked with Crystal Palace star Adam Wharton late in the summer transfer window.
If you look at the current Chelsea squad, the options available to Enzo Maresca in the centre of the park immediately stand out.
The Blues have Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo as two top-class midfield options. Alternatively, they can call upon Romeo Lavia, Andrey Santos or Dario Essugo to mix it up. Even though Chelsea sold Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to Everton this summer, they look formidable in midfield positions.
Palace ace Adam Wharton, 21, is a left-footed central midfielder with bags of ability.
Chelsea were in the race to sign Wharton during the 2024 January window, but he left Blackburn Rovers and made the move to Selhurst Park. He’s since become a consistent Premier League performer, plus he’s in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for next month’s international break.
Chelsea put Adam Wharton on their radar, Crystal Palace plan to keep him
According to journalist Ben Jacobs via X, Chelsea have now put Palace youngster Wharton on their list of long-term transfer targets.
The Blues would find it very tough to sign the deep-lying playmaker before the summer transfer window closes on Monday. Apparently, Premier League outfit Palace don’t plan to sell him regardless, and their stance is to keep him for at least another season.
While we massively rate Wharton, particularly because he has all the tools to be a star in the Premier League for the next decade, we’re a little confused by Chelsea’s interest.
| Club | Appearances |
| Blackburn Rovers | 51 |
| Crystal Palace | 48 |
Unless the Blues plan to offload one of their first-team central midfielders, Wharton feels like a bit of a needless target.
If Lavia can’t get over his frequent injury problems, perhaps the Palace talent should be looked at a bit closer because they have similar profiles. However, it feels like something for further down the line rather than now.
Cole Palmer’s prediction on Lavia is that he can be one of the world’s best midfielders, so it’s not time to give up on him just yet.
Chelsea need a new centre-back or goalkeeper before another midfielder
Now that Chelsea have agreed to sign Alejandro Garnacho from Manchester United, the winger is expected to join the club imminently. If there is enough time to bring in more signings in the final days of the transfer window, the Blues should have bigger priorities than the central midfield area.
It is quite obvious that question marks remain around first-choice goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.
Meanwhile, the loss of key centre-half Levi Colwill to an ACL injury means the addition of another central defender could help the squad.
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