Crystal Palace midfielder Wharton asked about possible England Euro 2024 spot after Man United win

BY ANDREW MCSTEEN

With England manager Gareth Southgate watching from the stands, Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton was part of an Eagles side that put Manchester United to the sword 4-0 at Selhurst Park on Monday night.

After moving up from the England U20s to U21s just a few weeks ago, the 20-year-old is now being talked about as a possible late addition to the former Palace player’s national squad which will be announced two weeks today.

“I don’t really think about that too much to be honest,” said the former Blackburn Rovers player who moved to South London in the January transfer window.

“The only time it’s on my mind is when I’m getting asked about it. It’s obviously great to be mentioned within that. It’s not at the front of my mind. I’m just taking each day as it comes trying to get better. If it happens, it happens. It’d be great obviously. But at the same time, I’m not expecting anything.

“I’m just enjoying my football at Palace at the minute. We’ve still two got two games left before the Euros or the summer and I’m looking at them first. If I get the call-up, wow, fantastic. If not, [I’ll be] recovering somewhere and then get ready to go again.”

Two goals either side of half-time were enough for Oliver Glasner’s side to defeat a woeful United side and claim their first-ever league double over the Red Devils.

An opening strike from Michael Olise was doubled by Jean-Philippe Mateta later on in the opening 45 minutes, with Tyrick Mitchell and then Olise again hitting the net to make it 4-0 by the 66th minute.

And while Wharton was happy with the team performance, he is keen to keep fine-tuning his own.

“We were very efficient in the way we played. We took our chances, scored some good goals and it was a top performance with a top result,” said Wharton to the South London Press about the victory – their fourth in the last five Premier League games.

“When you’re winning a game, it’s always a lot better than when you’re losing or drawing. It just builds the confidence throughout. You can enjoy the game and express yourself a bit more maybe at times but you can’t complain with a 4-0 win.

“[But] I’m never really satisfied with my performances,” he added. “Even if I have a good game, I always remember the things I could have done better. That’s just how I’ve always looked at games – even coming through the youth groups.

“You’re never perfect and I want to try to perfect but I’m still only young [and] got a lot to work on. I’ll just take each game as it comes and then try and work on the things that I need to improve on.”

Playing alongside Wharton in the centre of midfield is Will Hughes, who has seen a resurgence in game time and performance levels since Glasner took over the reins in February, starting the last seven games in a row.

“We complement each other very well,” said Wharton about playing alongside the former Watford player. “It’s great. We’ve got an understanding together of how each other play in and what we need to do to help each other.

“When you’ve got a relationship like that on the pitch, it helps massively. He’s also a top guy with a lot of experience. He’s been helping me ever since I came in and it’s great to play with him.”

Two other key teammates are Olise and Ebere Eze, with the attacking pair mesmerising and bewildering the United defence on Monday night, with Wharton himself an admirer at close quarters.

“It’s a joy to watch, even when you’re on the pitch,” he said. “It’s unbelievable to play with players like that, player that can produce magic moments at any moment in the game. It’s great to play with them.

“I just try to get them on the ball as much as possible and let them do their thing. It makes my life a lot easier, definitely. I just try and keep it simple, win the ball back and [give it to them and say] ‘go do your thing’.”

The change from a defensively-minded side under Roy Hodgson to an attacking threat under Glasner has seen the Eagles score 12 goals in their last four.

The confidence has been sweeping through the entire squad and Wharton is excited with what that could mean next season.

“With the way we’re playing at the moment, you could say we’re going to finish at the top of the table,” he said with a smile. “But at the same time, you never know what’s going to happen next season and that could change drastically. We might have a bad run of games. You don’t know. We’ve only been with the manager for a couple of months.

“At the moment, we’re very confident. If you ask all the players, I’m sure that they’re confident that with every game we’re going into play, we’ve got a chance of winning it. That makes it so much easier and it shows on the pitch.

“We’ll be aiming high; that’s what we’re here to do. We’re here to come and win games, get results and we’ve been doing that so far. Unfortunately, the season’s ending soon. It would be good to carry on. We’ll aim for as high as possible and hopefully we can we can get a better finish than last year.”