| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Adam James Wharton[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (2004-02-06)6 February 2004 (age 21) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Blackburn, England | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[2] | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Central midfielder | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Crystal Palace | ||||||||||||||||
| Number | 20 | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 2010–2022 | Blackburn Rovers | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2022–2024 | Blackburn Rovers | 44 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
| 2024– | Crystal Palace | 46 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2022–2023 | England U19 | 6 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2023 | England U20 | 3 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2024– | England U21 | 3 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2024– | England | 3 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 17:03, 22 November 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 11:14, 17 November 2025 | |||||||||||||||||
Adam James Wharton (born 6 February 2004) is an English professionalfootballer who plays as acentral midfielder forPremier League clubCrystal Palace and theEngland national team.
ABlackburn Rovers academy graduate, Wharton made his senior debut in the EFL Championship in 2022. He was signed by Crystal Palace in 2024, and won theFA Cup, the club's first ever major trophy, in2025, his first full season.
Wharton made his senior debut for England in June 2024, and was included in the squad forUEFA Euro 2024.
Wharton supportedBlackburn Rovers as a young child and aged four, in 2008, he was clubmascot for a Blackburn game againstChelsea. Two years later, he joined the Blackburn academy.[3]
In February 2022, Wharton signed his first professional contract at Blackburn, a two-and-a-half-year deal with an option through to 2025.[4]
On 10 August 2022, Wharton made his professional debut after being named in the starting XI for a 4–0EFL Cup first round victory atEwood Park againstHartlepool United.[5][6]
On 27 August 2022, Wharton made his league debut againstStoke City coming off the bench at half time forJoe Rankin-Costello.[7] On 31 August 2022, Wharton made his full 90 minutes league debut againstBlackpool, winning player of the match.[8] On 22 October 2022, Wharton scored his first goal for the club during a victory overBirmingham City.[9]
On 1 February 2024,Premier League sideCrystal Palace announced the signing of Wharton on a five-and-a-half-year contract.[10] The fee was undisclosed by the club, but reported to be an initial fee of £18 million, which could potentially rise to £22 million.[11] He made his first appearance for the club two days later, coming off the bench againstrivalsBrighton & Hove Albion in a 4–1 defeat.[12] Wharton started all 15 of Crystal Palace's remaining league fixtures that season.
In October 2024, Wharton suffered a groin injury that required surgery and kept him sidelined for three months.[13][14] On 17 May 2025, Wharton started in theFA Cup final againstManchester City, helping his side to a 1–0 victory that secured Palace's first ever major trophy.[15]
On 16 September 2022, Wharton along with Blackburn teammateAshley Phillips was called up to theEngland under-19 squad.[16][17] Wharton made his debut in a 2–0 win againstMontenegro.[18] On 31 August 2023, Wharton was included inEngland under-20 training camp squad.[19] On 16 November, he made his U20 debut during a 3–0 defeat toItaly at theEco-Power Stadium.[20] On 25 March 2024, he received his first call up for theEngland under-21 team for a Euro qualifying match, and made his debut the following day, coming on as a substitute in a 7–0 win overLuxembourg.[21]
On 21 May 2024, Wharton received his firstsenior call up as part of the 33-player preliminary squad forUEFA Euro 2024.[22] He made his England debut, as a substitute on 3 June during a 3–0 win againstBosnia and Herzegovina.[23] On 6 June, he was named in the final 26-man squad for the tournament, where he remained an unused substitute.[24]
Wharton's intelligence and technical ability is a notable characteristic of his playing style. The head of Blackburn Rovers academy, Stuart Jones, told BBC Radio 5 "In terms of his attributes, he was always an outstanding footballer, his ability on the football, his football intelligence and game understanding, he sees things that possibly other players don't see and he's always shown that from a young age." Following his England debut, Gareth Southgate commented on his ability to receive the ball.[25]
Adam is the younger brother ofScott Wharton, a professional footballer at Blackburn.[26] Wharton was privately educated atMoorland School in Lancashire.[27]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | EFL Cup | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Blackburn Rovers | 2022–23[28] | Championship | 18 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | — | 22 | 2 | ||
| 2023–24[29] | Championship | 26 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 29 | 2 | |||
| Total | 44 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | — | 51 | 4 | ||||
| Crystal Palace | 2023–24[29] | Premier League | 16 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 16 | 0 | ||||
| 2024–25[30] | Premier League | 20 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 27 | 0 | |||
| 2025–26[31] | Premier League | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5[a] | 0 | 1[b] | 0 | 17 | 0 | |
| Total | 47 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 60 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 91 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 111 | 4 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 2024 | 1 | 0 |
| 2025 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 3 | 0 | |
Crystal Palace
England
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