Let’s play a game. Imagine that instead of joining Blackburn Rovers as a six-year-old, Adam Wharton made the 50-minute drive from Wilpshire to Carrington to train with Manchester United every week for the past 14 years.
He was in the age group above Kobbie Mainoo, but there were high hopes for both. Their U18 and U21 sides were known for a ubiquitous midfield pivot and very rarely did they not dominate a game.
When the opportunity arose in January 2023 for a senior start, who would have been the first cab off the rank? Who would then have pressed on, eventually being selected for the senior England squad last March and placing themselves in the frame for a call-up to Euro 2024?
Off the admittedly limited evidence of the past four months, there’s a fair argument it would have been Wharton. Signed by Crystal Palace for £18.5m in January, he now looks like a £50m midfielder at the very least.
Wharton is less busy but more effective than Mainoo, more consistent and reliable, surer in himself and his tactical role. As he’s said, there’s something of Rodri and Frenkie de Jong in his game and aesthetically more than a little Declan Rice.
Socks by his ankles, No 2 all over, bumfluff and a babyface, he is elegantly languid and powerful, as good on the ball as he is off it. Long and lean and lithe, the consistent accuracy of his passing could perhaps do with some work, but this is only because he attempts so many ambitious through-balls.
“This might sound weird, but I love wrapping passes through to the No 10 so they can turn and drive at the defence – maybe more than a goal or an assist,” he told Scouted earlier this year.
“Because I was a No 10 myself, I can appreciate how difficult those passes are to make, but also how valuable they can be; especially if you’re being found between the lines.”
Man of the match in the 1-0 win against Liverpool having excelled in the 4-2 defeat to Manchester City, Wharton also glimmered in Blackburn’s 2-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Chelsea in November.
His unflappability and deftness under pressure is truly remarkable. His long-range passing, off-ball anticipation and tackling are elite just two months after his 20th birthday.
It’s worth saying that this is in no way an invective against Mainoo, an exceptional talent who continues to make the best of dire circumstances, tasked with pasting together Manchester United’s ragtag midfield of has-beens and hope.
He is likely to have an esteemed career at both Premier League and international level – the latter just doesn’t need to start now.
Perhaps the most obvious argument in Mainoo’s favour is that he represents a theoretically stronger side, with superior teammates and training and PR. Yet in the two and a half months both have consistently started in the top flight, Palace have been the better side.
Since Oliver Glasner took over at Selhurst Park on 19 February, Palace have won 15 points from 10 Premier League matches, beating Liverpool and Newcastle and also facing Spurs and Manchester City. In the same period, United have earned 10 points from their nine league games, despite playing just two of the current top eight teams.
Rated as the highest-performing U20 in this season’s Premier League by stats website SofaScore, Wharton is performing at a consistently higher level than Mainoo in a midfield duo with a much-improved but still middling Will Hughes.
He has done this at a new club in his first top-flight season having worked under two managers in four months. From an already impressive base, his development has been stunning.
And for England, Wharton’s value is obvious. He is comfortable either in a double pivot or as a lone defensive midfielder, a role Gareth Southgate has struggled to fill more than any other.
His similarity to Rice allows him to both support or replace arguably England’s most crucial player, providing him with a much-needed chance for rest if the opportunity arises. After the season Arsenal have had, the ability to take Rice off for 15 minutes, or even rest him at the end of the group stage, could be utterly invaluable.
If Southgate needs to protect a lead, placing Wharton either behind or alongside Rice would ensure stability and security.
Mainoo currently comes with too much chaos and uncertainty, a tornado sometimes unsure of which direction it’s heading. Trusting him would be an exercise in the limits of faith and sanity – he can currently fade from bigger games far too easily. Here are two diamonds, but one is rougher than the other.
Mainoo has looked to be one of Manchester United’s strongest players, but that must be heavily contextualised by both his age and the crumbling statues around him. There’s still a fallacy that impressing at Old Trafford instantly christens you a star, but now it just means you’re doing the basics.
Wharton and Mainoo may eventually start together for England, but only the former should be heading to Germany this summer.
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