Liverpool Pursue Adam Wharton as Curtis Jones Heads to Inter
Liverpool’s midfield is on the move again. Curtis Jones is packing for Milan, and the club are lining up Adam Wharton as the man to reshape the engine room behind him.
Inter Milan have struck a deal worth around €35m for Jones, with Fabrizio Romano delivering his trademark “here we go” and confirming a verbal agreement between the clubs and the player, plus medicals being scheduled. The 23-year-old has since been filmed arriving in Milan to finalise the transfer, ending his long association with his boyhood club.
That exit has triggered the next phase of Liverpool’s summer plan.
Iraola pushes for Wharton
According to Caught Offside, Liverpool are now ready to “accelerate” their pursuit of Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton as a direct response to Jones’ departure. Sources close to the agents’ circle have indicated that Wharton has moved high up the shortlist, with Andoni Iraola giving the green light to a move for the 22-year-old.
Iraola sees Wharton as a controller. Someone who can sit deeper, dictate rhythm, and free Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai to play higher and more aggressively between the lines. It is a clear tactical pivot: rebuild the structure at the base to unleash the runners ahead.
Liverpool’s summer already carries a different edge. Victor Munoz has arrived from Osasuna, Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes, and Ronald Araujo has joined on a season-long loan from Barcelona. At the top end of the pitch, the club are locked in a drawn-out chase for Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola, with negotiations dragging on for weeks.
They need that attacking spark. Mohamed Salah has gone, leaving for Trabzonspor at the end of last season, and strengthening the forward line has become a headline priority. But the Jones sale has underlined something else: the midfield still needs another piece.
Palace stand firm on their price
Wharton will not come cheap. Crystal Palace are reluctant to sell and value the midfielder at around £78m, a figure that instantly makes any deal complicated. The Eagles know what they have: a young, left-footed midfielder who has adapted quickly to Premier League life and is already trusted on the international stage.
That last part matters. Declan Rice has already gone on record about Wharton’s quality, describing him as “outstanding” while on England duty in June 2024.
“He’s been outstanding,” Rice said. “In training, he impressed a lot of the players. He’s so composed and calm on the ball. He played his first half of the season in the Championship, he’s [come into the England team] from Crystal Palace now.”
Rice highlighted Wharton’s “beautiful left foot” and “really crisp passing”, as well as his attitude: a down-to-earth 20-year-old, hungry to learn and unfazed by the step up to major tournaments. Being on the plane for his first European Championship, Rice added, was a moment Wharton would not take for granted.
Those are the traits Liverpool are trying to buy. Composure, control, and the mentality to handle big occasions.
A reshaped Liverpool core
Liverpool’s midfield has been in a near-constant state of renovation in recent windows. Jones leaving for Serie A removes a homegrown option and a player who understood the club’s fabric, but Iraola appears intent on moulding a different type of core, one built around specialists in defined roles.
Wharton fits that idea. A deep-lying organiser, young enough to grow, confident enough to take the ball under pressure. The kind of profile that could quietly become central to how Liverpool play, even if the headlines gravitate towards Barcola or any other attacking arrival.
The obstacle is obvious: Palace’s price and their resistance to losing another key asset this summer. Liverpool are “targeting an ambitious move”, but ambition has a cost. The question now is whether the club are willing to push towards that £78m valuation to land a player many inside the game believe is built for the top.
Jones is almost out the door. The rebuild continues. How aggressively Liverpool move for Wharton will say plenty about how serious they are about reshaping this team for the next era.
