Wharton in-depth: Glasner advice, changing style and Premier League life

From a Premier League move to a spot at Euro 2024, it’s been a rapid rise – but nobody could call it unwarranted. His form since arriving in South London has been sensational, and now he is preparing to start his first full top-flight season as one of Oliver Glasner’s trusted lieutenants.

But what is the secret to his phenomenal progress? Before the beginning of the new campaign, Wharton opened up on his developing style of play, the benefits of his move from a No. 10 to a central midfielder, swapping peaceful northern countryside for the bright lights of London, his favourite Premier League grounds and the very specific instructions of the man in the Palace dugout…

The step up to the Premier League cannot be underestimated. The speed, the intensity, the quality of the opposition – it is the most watched league in the world for a reason.

For Wharton, it came with a harsh lesson on debut, as a mistake led directly to Palace conceding, but this was a valuable lesson to learn.

“If you make mistakes in the Championship, sometimes you can get away with them,” he explained. “In the Prem you are going to get punished.

“I did on my debut, and that was like a wake-up call. You don’t have that much time, you can’t make those mistakes otherwise you are going to pay for it, and the team is going to pay for it.”

Playing for Blackburn in the second tier was a perfect place to prepare for the intensity of the Premier League, with games twice a week for a long, brutal campaign – but Wharton’s specific style of play was also well-suited to making that step up.

“The Championship is a physical league, so [although] it took a couple of games [to get used to] the intensity and the speed of it, I settled in pretty well,” he says.

“Naturally, I like to play one and two-touch. I'm not a dribbler, I'm not going to beat two people. I give it to the people who beat two people!

“So I think that side of it happened pretty fast, and I got used to it that way. You’re playing with better players, and that naturally lifts your level.

“I have settled in pretty well, I think.”

That is quite the understatement. Wharton’s move has been a success on the pitch, but it is worth remembering the human side of transfers: at just 20-years-old, he was suddenly no longer living in the familiar surroundings of home, and was thrust into the hectic routine of living alone in London.

“I was living with my mum and dad when I was at Blackburn,” he says. “Literally as soon as I moved down, it was like: ‘OK, you’re living on your own now’.

“I lived five minutes from the training ground back home, so it’s nice and easy, comfortable. Now you’ve got to wake up earlier, get through the traffic to get to training.

“You’ve got to cook your own meals, wash, clean, all that stuff.”

Is he a bit of a secret chef?

“I’ve not got any spices or anything like that. I just keep it plan and simple.”

If he is, he’s keeping his cards close to his chest…

There are benefits to being in London, particularly for a young man not used to finding himself in the limelight.

“It’s probably quite good that I'm in London, because there’s so much to do,” he explains. “I’m from the countryside in Blackburn. Half the people that are there, you know them anyway.

“In London, nobody knows who you are. There are too many people. You walk past a million people if you go into the centre, so I quite like it. I can just go out and entertain myself. There are plenty of things to do, new places to go to.

“But then I quite like the peace and quiet of the north at the same time. It’s just nice and peaceful, countryside, loads of fields, whereas London is 24/7, always something going on.”

There will be plenty more new surroundings for Wharton this season, who is already enjoying playing in the biggest grounds around the country, and has a few more he is hoping to tick off.

“I really enjoy playing at Selhurst,” he says. “I feel like it’s a bit different: it’s not a massive stadium but it’s quite compact, and the atmosphere is good – especially when you’re winning.

“I’d say I quite enjoy Anfield. Do you know what it is? I like the songs at the start of games. When a team has a song before a game, I just enjoy listening to it and I sort of sing along with it in my head.

“I like Palace’s. I’d never heard of it until I came, and every time it’s on I’m just sort of humming it in my head.

“I liked [Nottingham] Forest away, that was a good ground. A lot history there as well. Tottenham, in terms of stadiums and what it’s got in it, it’s massive. That is unbelievable.

“I have not played at Old Trafford yet, so I want to play there.”

In some of the most difficult away grounds in the league, it is comforting to know that there are quality players alongside you. Palace’s front three of Ebere Eze, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Michael Olise were on fire last season, and despite the departure of the latter to Bayern Munich, the arrival of Daichi Kamada and Ismaïla Sarr has meant the attacking talent keeps on coming.

“It just makes life a lot easier,” Wharton says of his teammates. “The last 10 games when we were playing really well, and then the three up top were flying.

“It made my life and the defence’s life so much easier. Like I said, I'm not going to dribble past anyone. I just give it to them to free as much as I can.

“If I could get them on the ball, I know something is going to happen from it and it’s going to get us up the pitch, create a chance.

“When you’ve got players like that and they are always wanting the ball, that’s another thing that makes it so easy. They are never behind players, they are always creating angles to try to get the ball.

“I just look to give it to them as much as possible. When you’ve got players of that quality it makes it so much easier for you, and it brings your level up as well.”

For a player with such poise and composure on the ball – does he ever seem rushed? – Wharton actually moved back into central midfield quite late, with his experience playing further forwards as a youngster.

“I used to play off the left, as a left-back or a left-midfield, a bit of everywhere,” he remembers. “Then I used to play more as a No. 10 in the pockets, because I used to assist more.

“I used to be really small when I was younger. I used to be one of the smallest in my age group, so I preferred playing there because I could get in the pockets, in the tight spaces, turning, stuff like that.

“Then naturally I dropped a bit deeper about Under-16s, and just stuck with it from there. I think the fact that I played the No. 10 position helps me now, because I know what the No. 10 wants.

“I know how hard it is to get on the ball, and I know the movements that they are going to make, and I know how important it is to get them on the ball. They are going to make things happen and create chances, so it benefitted me playing there when I was younger.”

Now, Oliver Glasner is continuing to fine-tune Wharton’s game, having himself only arrived in South London in March but already having transformed the team’s style of play.

“It’s a new system that he’s played, and I've never really played that sort of system,” Wharton admits.

“[His advice] is positionally, where he wants me to be in certain situations, whether that’s on the ball, to get on it or create space for the No. 10s and the striker to play forwards.

“Or it’s out of possession if it’s me pressing higher, or if it’s on the opposite side and I need to come round, to make sure we’ve got control of the centre of the pitch, but then also to be ready to press their centre-mid.

“I’d say it’s more tactically than anything. Obviously coming up against different formations for the other teams, they all play different ways, so it’s trying to adapt to each formation that we come up against.”

Heading into the 2024/25 campaign, expectations of Wharton are understandably high, but nobody has higher expectations than the man himself. Football is all about continual improvement, and that’s exactly what he hopes to achieve.

“I’ve not really set any [specific] expectations – I never do,” he explains. “I just take it as it goes but I think we have to aim as high as we can. The way we were playing at the end of last season, we’ve got to try to copy that, and pick up where we left off.

“If we do that I'm sure we can have a good season and be up there. I would just say to try to improve on last season. There’s no point in saying we need to finish above this position: above sixth, above eighth, above 10th.

“If we improve on last season I think that’s the only thing you can do. If you’re getting better, then naturally you are going to be finishing in a higher position.

“I think you know we’re working hard now to try to get back into it, and to try to improve on where we were last year.

“Hopefully we can start the season strong.”