Adam Wharton spoke to the media ahead of Palace’s 4-0 win over Lech Poznań in the Europa League, and as deputising captain in Dean Henderson’s absence, faced questions on his future, life under Pierre Sage and his views on selection for the England squad. 

Thomas Tuchel’s squad for the upcoming international break has been announced, and Wharton misses out, with there being no Palace presence for the first time since 2022. Whilst that may frustrate some fans, the reality is that with the lack of pre-season afforded to the side for reasons which have been exhausted by now, the fewer players missing from training over the next few weeks, the better. 

Wharton has had a difficult start to the season, but put in a performance much closer to the level that Palace fans have come to expect on Thursday night, leading the side to a dominant victory in their first ever Europa League game. 

In the summer, many Palace fans, as well as England fans in general, questioned the omission of Wharton from Tuchel’s World Cup squad. The midfielder would have undoubtedly added an additional level of quality to the midfield, and a different option for games where the Three Lions were going to dominate possession. 

Whilst there was natural disappointment in not being selected, Wharton showed a mature approach, as he often does, appearing to be unphased by the noise around him in terms of the squad. 

“He [Tuchel] spoke to me before the squad was announced in the summer, he said it was close but he took the decision not to take me and obviously that’s football, it happens. It’s his decision and obviously I got really close but there’s a lot of top players to choose from, and it’s the same again.”

Wharton’s start to the season potentially hasn’t justified a call up to the squad for the upcoming break, but it will allow him to rest ahead of an extremely busy schedule following the resumption of domestic football. 

Palace will face Nottingham Forest at home, followed by a trip to Lyon in the Europa League before they visit rivals Brighton towards the back end of October. That game is followed closely by a trip to Istanbul to face a Besiktas side who demolished Marseille in their opening Europa League game, and the action only continues from that point on. 

The understanding and maturity that Wharton shows when discussing all topics is admirable, and he maintained that when he was asked about the upcoming break too. 

“He’s got to make the decision between however many players, there’s a lot of top players to choose from but like I said, if I get picked, great, I’m happy, I get to play football for my country, who doesn’t want to do that. If not, I can stay, I’m still at Palace working, still trying to improve, just in a different environment, so I don’t really look into it too much, we’ll see.” 

After winning the Europa Conference League last season, the Palace squad are filled with confidence going into their maiden Europa League voyage, and with good reason. Despite the calibre of sides competing in the tournament, the opening results show that no win is guaranteed, and that every side is beatable too. 

The expectations for Palace are understandably less intense than they were last season, when Palace were tipped as favourites almost from the off, but Wharton spoke about that in relation to this year’s competition. 

“I wouldn’t say there’s sort of any expectations. The expectation last year was to get further than it is this year with it being a step up, but we can take our experience of knowing how this kind of competition works with a group stage and into the knockouts. I think with the players we’ve still got from last year we can take that experience and carry it into the competition.”

Palace would achieve some feat if they are able to win back to back European trophies, but Wharton, as is his nature, provided a calm response when asked to discuss the club’s aims in a new tournament. 

“Obviously it’s exciting for us and the club, going off last year, first time in Europe, a new step for the club and we sort of embraced it and took it on, and it was very successful. I think it’s the same this year. Obviously we’ve not been in the Europa League before, everyone just wants to embrace it and take it in the stride and I think obviously last year there wasn’t any sort of aims, we wanted to win but we’d never been in it before so we didn’t know what to expect and I think it’s the same here. I don’t see why we can’t go very far and try and win it, and that’s the aim.”

Palace are projected to finish within the league phases’s automatic qualifying positions, and if they do so they’ll avoid a play-off round, which they had to face last season. 

Across the summer there was still a fair amount of noise surrounding Wharton’s future in South London, with Manchester City reported to show interest in acquiring his services. However, Wharton showed little interest in discussions over his future, and gave answers that Palace fans will be very pleased to read. 

“To be honest I never really thought about a transfer this summer. I stay very far away from it. My agent doesn’t really tell me anything, I don’t want to know anything. If I’m not going to move then there’s no need for me to have information, it’s only going to be in your mind and you’ll overthink it, so I never even thought about a different club.”

“I was always here training, looking forward to the new gaffer, new staff and new players coming in and yeah, it’s the same this season.”

“I’ve still got three years left at Crystal Palace, so for all I know I’m here for three years unless a new club comes in or there’s a new contract. I don’t really look too far ahead, sort of just take it week by week, game by game and that helps me get the best out of myself and I can just concentrate on what’s next. There’s never really anything to it and I’m happy to be here, playing games and trying to improve.”

For a player of Wharton’s calibre, there can often be an overwhelming desire to move on and search for the next challenge, but Wharton’s patience, and the maturity shown not only by him, but also from his entourage, is a refreshing stance considering the behaviour of other professionals and their agents.

There is no doubt that at some point Wharton’s time will come, and he will depart South London to one of the World’s best teams, but until that time comes, he is comfortable playing football for Crystal Palace and is not fussed about forcing a move in the way that some of his teammates have. 

Despite Palace’s fairly middling start to the season, the improvement in the way the side are attacking in games is certainly noticeable, and once the handful of defensive mishaps and the spaces between the midfield and defence become tighter, the feeling is that results will improve drastically. 

Wharton was asked about his start to the season and how life under a new manager has been so far for himself and his teammates. 

“I think obviously it’s been a bit of a slow start for us as a team. Personally, I’m not delighted with how I’ve started, a few good bits but a lot of stuff to work on. That’s what I’m trying to do in training, I just wanna get better and better.”

“Obviously with the new gaffer coming in, new way of playing and lot’s of new signings, it’s about working everyday to try and implement his way of playing, in possession, out of possession. Trying to gel with new teammates, what their strengths are, how to get the best out of them with the players that were already here.”

A number of summer signings have already become important parts of the side, including Anan Khalaili, Quinten Timber, Axel Disasi and Honest Ahanor. That influx of new talent and the addition of new tactical ideas and gameplans has caused the start of the season to stumble somewhat. 

“It’s not always smooth sailing when there’s new tactics, a lot of new faces, it’s not just going to click like that. But there’s lots of positives to take from certain parts of the games, but also a lot to work on and that’s what we’ll continue to do in the coming weeks and hopefully start to be more consistent.”

The actual set up looks pretty similar to that under Oliver Glasner, however the demands of the players and the movements both in and out of possession are very different, as are the patterns of play when attacking. 

“We want to be aggressive out of possession, pressing from goalkeepers, trying to win the ball back high and creating lots of chances. We’ve scored quite a few goals in the first few games which is positive, it means we’re creating chances and taking them, but also we’ve conceded a few which is obviously not ideal, but it’s a different way of defending and when you’re trying to be aggressive to win the ball back, sometimes you might [concede].”

There were whispers of pressure being applied on Sage from above, but considering the work he’s done so far and the lack of pre-season afforded to him, it’s only right that he gets time to make it work. The players very much still believe in his philosophy too, and as long as that’s the case, he should be greeted with the same patience that his predecessor had during long winless runs. 

“We’re working on it, there’s lots of positives and I’m sure it will come good.”

Palace will look to round off the first period of the season with a win at Elland Road on Sunday, before a three week international break will offer Sage time to get his players on the training pitch.