Agent Of Man Utd Target Reveals What Needs To Happen For £75M Move To Get Green Light

BACK Man Utd may need to secure Champions League qualification if they are to stand any chance of signing Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton. The 21-year-old is among the candidates that the Red Devils have identified to strengthen their midfield, but his agent James Featherstone has laid out the criteria for his potential next club: “When he was at Blackburn, we sat down and spoke about shooting for the stars and playing for England. So how do you get there? Personally, I think to play for England, you have to play Champions League. To play in the Champions League, you have got to play for one of the top teams in one of the top leagues. “That jump to a Champions League team, I think you can get lost. The plan below that was to play for a Premier League team. We have got a plan.” “He is 21. I have to check myself to remember that every now and then. It doesn’t have to be achieved yesterday, today or this moment. He has got his in-game, in-season targets and goals. He has got to do his bit and the rest will look after itself in a very structured, calm way to ultimately add value and maximise his ability.” Wharton will not be available on the cheap An offer of around £75m may be needed for Palace to sanction the England international’s sale in the New Year, and there will be competition from other clubs as well. Liverpool and Manchester City have also been mentioned as potential suitors for Wharton over the past 12 to 18 months. Man Utd may look at alternatives Wharton is not the only midfielder on the radar of Director of Football Jason Wilcox. Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson and Brighton’s Carlos Baleba have also come under consideration, but the pair could cost £100m apiece. A cheaper solution could be sought in January with Atletico Madrid’s Conor Gallagher (who may be available for €30m/£26m), Olympiakos’s Christos Mouzakitis (€40m/£35m) and Wolves’ Joao Gomes (€50m/£44m) among the other options. Read more about the Manchester United First Team Squad for 2025/26 here David Tully David has worked as a football reporter for the last fifteen years. Having started as an intern at Snack Media, he then went on to become a freelancer, working on various different sites. At the start of 2023, he took up his current role as content writer for the Football News Network.