Liverpool Targets Adam Wharton in Summer Rebuild

Liverpool’s summer rebuild is gathering pace – and Adam Wharton has moved firmly onto their radar.

According to GIVEMESPORT’s Ben Jacobs, the Crystal Palace midfielder is “really appreciated” at Anfield, with Liverpool weighing up a move as they arm new head coach Andoni Iraola for a major reset after a bruising campaign.

From shock sacking to rapid rebuild

Arne Slot’s dismissal caught plenty inside and outside the club off guard, coming just a year after he delivered the Premier League title in his debut season. The follow‑up was a step backwards, on the pitch and in the dressing room, and Liverpool’s hierarchy has responded by handing the reins to Iraola and preparing to reshape the squad around him.

They have little choice. Three pillars of the recent era – Andy Robertson, Mohamed Salah and Ibrahima Konaté – have gone, ripping out experience, leadership and star quality in one hit. The holes are obvious. So is the need for fresh legs and new ideas.

Liverpool’s depth out wide looks particularly thin. Salah’s departure leaves a chasm on the right, and while 17‑year‑old Rio Ngumoha has impressed as he edges into the first team, the club knows it cannot lean on a teenager to carry the burden of a title challenge.

Talks are already under way with RB Leipzig over Yan Diomande, the 19‑year‑old forward earmarked as Liverpool’s preferred long‑term successor to Salah. Personal terms are believed to be broadly in place, but Leipzig are holding firm at a valuation north of £100m. Liverpool have paid that kind of money before. They may have to do it again.

Midfield under the microscope

The focus is not only on the front line. Iraola inherits a side that just conceded a club-record number of goals in a Premier League season, and a midfield that never quite found its balance.

Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister struggled to match the standards they set in previous years during the 2025–26 campaign, leaving Dominik Szoboszlai as the one nailed-on starter in the centre of the pitch. Around him, the picture is far less settled.

That is where Wharton comes in.

Speaking on talkSPORT, Jacobs urged listeners to pay attention to Liverpool’s interest in the middle of the park: “Keep an eye on central midfield. Adam Wharton is a player really appreciated by Liverpool.”

At 22, Wharton has three years left on his Crystal Palace contract. Selhurst Park will host Europa League football next season, a sign of the progress Oliver Glasner has driven in south London, and Palace are under no pressure to sell. Glasner has gone as far as to call Wharton “one of the best midfielders in the world” in recent weeks – a line that underlines both his importance and his likely price tag.

Yet Wharton’s omission from Thomas Tuchel’s England squad has stirred speculation over his next step. A player of his composure and range, now proven in the Premier League and about to taste European football, fits the profile Liverpool have chased in recent windows: young, technically sharp, and with room to grow into a leading role.

Big fees, big expectations

Liverpool showed last summer that they are prepared to shop at the very top of the market. Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak arrived as £100m‑plus signings, statements of intent that were supposed to power a new cycle under Slot.

Now Iraola could be the one to benefit from another wave of heavy investment.

Diomande would command a fee well beyond £100m if Leipzig get their way. Elsewhere, Liverpool have been linked with Paris Saint‑Germain’s Champions League winner Bradley Barcola and Bournemouth winger Rayan, both valued in the same financial stratosphere by their clubs.

Layer a potential move for Wharton on top of that and a picture emerges: Liverpool are not tinkering. They are tearing into the squad with the kind of aggression that usually signals a club determined to get back to the very top immediately, not in two or three years’ time.

The question now is simple. With Iraola in the dugout, a title to reclaim, and rivals strengthening around them, how bold are Liverpool prepared to be in turning admiration for players like Wharton into decisive, era‑shaping deals?