Adam Wharton

[Mattyblue]

If a ‘big 6’ came in, he’d be off. Not really comparable to the likes of Rothwell.

[ben_the_beast]

  On 20/04/2023 at 16:43, bluebruce said:

We're not a normal club, we can be very stubborn (sometimes to our detriment) with sales when we want to be. We may also get slightly longer out of him due to his being a fan and his brother playing here, but after the Phil Jones sale you can never be sure that means anything.

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He's on a 5 year contract. We're under zero pressure to sell. I also see JDT singled him out for praise after the Coventry game and commented on his improvement in training. 

I think any perceived friction between them has been smoothed over. If we don't go up this year he's primed for a major role next season. There is absolutely no way on earth I'd endorse us even considering selling him. 

There have been players I've loved having at the club over the last 5 years, but we've not had a player who is an absolute pleasure to watch based on talent alone. I'm looking forward to watching him grow in a Rovers shirt. A bit of smart recruitment and Wharton coming to the fore and I fully expect us to be towards the top end of the table next year.

[Upside Down]

  On 20/04/2023 at 17:21, Mattyblue said:

If a ‘big 6’ came in, he’d be off. Not really comparable to the likes of Rothwell

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Even if he knows the club?

[bluebruce]

  On 20/04/2023 at 19:59, ben_the_beast said:

He's on a 5 year contract. We're under zero pressure to sell. I also see JDT singled him out for praise after the Coventry game and commented on his improvement in training. 

I think any perceived friction between them has been smoothed over. If we don't go up this year he's primed for a major role next season. There is absolutely no way on earth I'd endorse us even considering selling him. 

There have been players I've loved having at the club over the last 5 years, but we've not had a player who is an absolute pleasure to watch based on talent alone. I'm looking forward to watching him grow in a Rovers shirt. A bit of smart recruitment and Wharton coming to the fore and I fully expect us to be towards the top end of the table next year.

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Did you mean to quote Matty Blue's post? I never implied we should sell him or that we're under pressure to. But while we're on the topic, pressure can always be applied by a player if they wish, we've seen it many times. And for all we know there could be a release clause in that contract like with the other Rovers 'fan' Jones.

Hopefully neither of those comes to fruition. I really like this kid. He's what we were told Buckley would be.

Edited April 20, 2023 by bluebruce

[roverandout]

Wouldn't surprise me If morton put a word in klopp's ear in the summer. Liverpool want a much cheaper option to Bellingham, if Liverpool came in with a 40-50 million pound offer I'm sure venkys would consider it. I wouldn't sell him for 100 million personally.  He's priceless 

[NeilInBristol]

Tomasson had previously called for Wharton to do more in training to push his claim for a starting spot, and feels he has seen more of that in recent weeks.

 

“He did very well. I wanted to control the game and he is very good on the ball, he did that excellent,” Tomasson said.

 

“I said that the boy has extremely good quality and he’s also training well now.

 

“That’s also a development as a player, when you have a bit of a taste of it keep on training well, wanting more and he’s doing that at the moment.

 

“Putting him in that position could be risky but sometimes you make those decisions because I want to win the game.

 

“I know that’s a situation where you can lose it but he dealt well with the task very well.”

 

The majority of Wharton’s previous starts had come when operating as part of a three-man central midfield.

 

Yet his role against the Sky Blues was to play in the holding role and look to pick up possession where possible.

 

He showed his calmness on the ball, willing to receive it in tight areas, but also his ability to find space which allowed Rovers to build from the back.

 

It was a real responsibility placed upon his shoulders, not least given Tomasson’s comments after the Hull City stalemate that he needed to work more on the defensive side of his game.

 

“Football is about different functions, you need to be good on the ball, win balls, that’s also part of football, defend, follow runs and all of those things,” Tomasson added.

 

“He’s learning that and he’s doing that better now.”

[Sparks Rover]

  On 20/04/2023 at 20:18, Neilbristol said:

Tomasson had previously called for Wharton to do more in training to push his claim for a starting spot, and feels he has seen more of that in recent weeks.

 

“He did very well. I wanted to control the game and he is very good on the ball, he did that excellent,” Tomasson said.

 

“I said that the boy has extremely good quality and he’s also training well now.

 

“That’s also a development as a player, when you have a bit of a taste of it keep on training well, wanting more and he’s doing that at the moment.

 

“Putting him in that position could be risky but sometimes you make those decisions because I want to win the game.

 

“I know that’s a situation where you can lose it but he dealt well with the task very well.”

 

The majority of Wharton’s previous starts had come when operating as part of a three-man central midfield.

 

Yet his role against the Sky Blues was to play in the holding role and look to pick up possession where possible.

 

He showed his calmness on the ball, willing to receive it in tight areas, but also his ability to find space which allowed Rovers to build from the back.

 

It was a real responsibility placed upon his shoulders, not least given Tomasson’s comments after the Hull City stalemate that he needed to work more on the defensive side of his game.

 

“Football is about different functions, you need to be good on the ball, win balls, that’s also part of football, defend, follow runs and all of those things,” Tomasson added.

 

“He’s learning that and he’s doing that better now.”

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Yep, I noticed this about Wharton, his engine isn't at full capacity yet due to his age.  Great when the ball at his feet, needs to do more off the ball.

On average a good player will have the ball for 3 minutes in a match,  its what he does for the other 87 that makes a player.

[Mattyblue]

Which is fair enough, obviously he’s not the finished article at 18, but it was a fairly disingenuous of JDT calling him out for it considering the other lad that has played most weeks isn’t exactly a grafter off the ball…

[bluebruce]

  On 20/04/2023 at 20:14, roverandout said:

Wouldn't surprise me If morton put a word in klopp's ear in the summer. Liverpool want a much cheaper option to Bellingham, if Liverpool came in with a 40-50 million pound offer I'm sure venkys would consider it. I wouldn't sell him for 100 million personally.  He's priceless 

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Why would Morton tell Klopp to get someone who is better than he is? Probably thanks his lucky stars he got in our team ahead of him for so long, and when he returns he already has Liverpool superstars to contend with. Besides, Liverpool will be well aware of him, I'm sure they have a good scouting network and keep tabs on our games, since Morton is here and they like to loan us players.

I love Wharton and I hope he plays here for years and becomes top top drawer, but I'd definitely sell him for 100 million. It'd be madness not to. Players don't always improve, sometimes they regress, sometimes they get seriously injured. That sort of money could rebuild our whole team a la Burnley to make a serious promotion charge. If we were already in the Prem I'd still think about it, based on where he was at in his development at the time.

[roverandout]

  On 20/04/2023 at 20:50, bluebruce said:

Why would Morton tell Klopp to get someone who is better than he is? Probably thanks his lucky stars he got in our team ahead of him for so long, and when he returns he already has Liverpool superstars to contend with. Besides, Liverpool will be well aware of him, I'm sure they have a good scouting network and keep tabs on our games, since Morton is here and they like to loan us players.

I love Wharton and I hope he plays here for years and becomes top top drawer, but I'd definitely sell him for 100 million. It'd be madness not to. Players don't always improve, sometimes they regress, sometimes they get seriously injured. That sort of money could rebuild our whole team a la Burnley to make a serious promotion charge. If we were already in the Prem I'd still think about it, based on where he was at in his development at the time.

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Venkys would probably give us 1.5 million and keep the rest though and some supporters would see that as them being generous 

[NeilInBristol]

  On 20/04/2023 at 20:56, roverandout said:

Venkys would probably give us 1.5 million and keep the rest though and some supporters would see that as them being generous 

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They wouldn't even give us 1.5m..

 

Where is the money from the Armstrong sale?

[roversfan99]

  On 20/04/2023 at 20:14, roverandout said:

Wouldn't surprise me If morton put a word in klopp's ear in the summer. Liverpool want a much cheaper option to Bellingham, if Liverpool came in with a 40-50 million pound offer I'm sure venkys would consider it. I wouldn't sell him for 100 million personally.  He's priceless 

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You wouldnt sell him if Liverpool offered us £50m in the summer?

Fantastic talent, one I really rate and am frustrated he hasnt played much more, but that is a hell of a lot of money for someone who has barely played first team football.

[Gordon Gekko]

  On 20/04/2023 at 20:14, roverandout said:

Wouldn't surprise me If morton put a word in klopp's ear in the summer. Liverpool want a much cheaper option to Bellingham, if Liverpool came in with a 40-50 million pound offer I'm sure venkys would consider it. I wouldn't sell him for 100 million personally.  He's priceless 

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It would surprise me, Adam Wharton I can guarantee is not on Liverpool’s radar. 50 million? 😂 100% guarantee the Venkys don’t know who Adam Wharton is either.

[roverandout]

  On 20/04/2023 at 22:29, roversfan99 said:

You wouldnt sell him if Liverpool offered us £50m in the summer?

Fantastic talent, one I really rate and am frustrated he hasnt played much more, but that is a hell of a lot of money for someone who has barely played first team football.

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He could be worth 75 in a year 

[bluebruce]

  On 20/04/2023 at 20:56, roverandout said:

Venkys would probably give us 1.5 million and keep the rest though and some supporters would see that as them being generous 

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  On 20/04/2023 at 21:30, Neilbristol said:

They wouldn't even give us 1.5m..

 

Where is the money from the Armstrong sale?

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There's a huge difference between 15 million, which is I believe a bit less than we lose each year generally, and 100 million. There are many many good reasons to criticise Venkys, but the books show they front us about 20 million most years to cover our losses. People like to pretend FFP isn't a problem (and at times, with imagination, it was avoidable, at the risk the league would possibly punish it when they felt like it, but those loopholes have increasingly closed), but it does put hard limits on what we can spend.

100 million (and of course we wouldn't get that for him unless we went to the Prem and he excelled there, before any smartass says it, this is hypothetical) completely outstrips those limits. Obviously we wouldn't spend the whole lot, a load of it would probably be reserved to cover wage increases and maybe future losses, and they may trouser a bit of it, but I'd expect about 30 million to be cleared for transfers, which huge in this league. Remember they spent 12 mill on BB and Gally before we had any such influx. If you think we'd get nothing at all, you're either exaggerating or letting your hate of Venkys (which I share) cloud your reasoning.

The problem might come in the form of the new rules about wages to turnover, I think transfer fees count as turnover but not sure. We'd probably still have to be mindful of wages for when that money ran out though.

Edited April 21, 2023 by bluebruce

[Tugayisgod]

So there are a few decent Cov fans out there after all ....

 

[Tugayisgod]

  On 21/04/2023 at 05:36, roverandout said:

He could be worth 75 in a year 

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Correct, maybe not a year but his stock will only continue to rise. Same with Phillips, Rich Sharpe saying he just gets better and better with every game he sees him.

Got to be a regular next season surely

[tomphil]

Stumbled into a similar convo saying i can't believe they took him off the game swung when they did.

Another comment - From what iv'e seen of Blackburn this season both games against us and beyond their issues seems to lie with their managers in game decisions.

Hard to disagree.

[Exiled_Rover]

  On 20/04/2023 at 20:14, roverandout said:

Wouldn't surprise me If morton put a word in klopp's ear in the summer. Liverpool want a much cheaper option to Bellingham, if Liverpool came in with a 40-50 million pound offer I'm sure venkys would consider it. I wouldn't sell him for 100 million personally.  He's priceless 

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"Jurgen, sign this player that I'm not fit to shine the boots of. It'll be great for my career here at Liverpool".

[arbitro]

  On 21/04/2023 at 09:19, Tugayisgod said:

So there are a few decent Cov fans out there after all ....

 

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Interestingly one of the Coventry comments is that he stopped one of their best players, Hamer from playing. And yet some of our own fans question his physicality.

[bluebruce]

I know they're different positions, but nobody on this earth can persuade me that Vale was ready for the first team but Wharton wasn't.

[Groundhog]

  On 21/04/2023 at 09:41, arbitro said:

Interestingly one of the Coventry comments is that he stopped one of their best players, Hamer from playing. And yet some of our own fans question his physicality.

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I agree, but not sure it was down to Wharton being physical, it just meant Hamer had to get tight on him and stop him from playing, which in turn stopped his own game. Second half they noticeably went harder in on him, gave him less space. I think Robins identified him as our playmaker in the first half. Teams are going to do that to him. 

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by Groundhog

[LeftWinger]

  On 20/04/2023 at 20:14, roverandout said:

Wouldn't surprise me If morton put a word in klopp's ear in the summer. Liverpool want a much cheaper option to Bellingham, if Liverpool came in with a 40-50 million pound offer I'm sure venkys would consider it. I wouldn't sell him for 100 million personally.  He's priceless 

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I'm sure Liverpool fans would love that - not having the money for Bellingham and then spending £50m on a player who has started 8 league games in his career. 

[arbitro]

  On 21/04/2023 at 10:32, Groundhog said:

I agree, but not sure it was down to Wharton being physical, it just meant Hamer had to get tight on him and stop him from playing, which in turn stopped his own game. Second half they noticeably went harder in on him, gave him less space. I think Robins identified him as our playmaker in the first half. Teams are going to do that to him. 

 

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Of course it wasn't just down to being physical - I used that as an example to debunk the myth that he isn't up to the rigours of Championship football unless he bulks up. A big part of his performance against Hamer was off the ball when he closed him down, tracked his runs and so on. That is the area where Tomasson said he had to improve to make him a better all round footballer. 

[Sparks Rover]

  On 21/04/2023 at 10:27, bluebruce said:

I know they're different positions, but nobody on this earth can persuade me that Vale was ready for the first team but Wharton wasn't.

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Vale isn't needed in our box when they are breaking....its basic fitness the lad is missing...just his age.  You can tell his legs haven't fully developed yet.

I agree though, different class

Edited April 21, 2023 by Sparks Rover