Spurs hold talks to sign £80m Gallagher upgrade who’s their dream target

It was suggested that Tottenham Hotspur would be busy throughout the January transfer window, and they are at that, with the spotlight on Conor Gallagher after he completed his move on Wednesday.

Tottenham’s midfield has been a pressure point throughout the campaign. Thomas Frank‘s preference to field Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur together has come at the expense of progressive play, but Bentancur is now sidelined for several months ahead.

Gallagher is not an out-and-out playmaker, but he is a dynamic and hard-working midfielder who brings a wealth of Premier League experience and new strengths welded onto his skillset after a stint in Spain with Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid.

But Spurs are hungry for more in the centre of the park, with a contrasting midfield profile already being lined up after that £35m move.

Spurs enquire about Premier League midfielder

Gallagher was said to play “like a machine” by old Chelsea teammate Moises Caicedo. He will do well alongside Joao Palhinha, adding industriousness and energy while a more expansive style beside the anchoring Portuguese.

But Tottenham still need more creativity and forward momentum from midfield, and that’s why a Premier League star is already being lined up after the Gallagher signing.

According to TEAMtalk, Spurs might just have their man in Adam Wharton. The Crystal Palace midfielder is one of the most coveted in the Premier League, also at the top of Manchester United’s wish list.

Wharton, 21, has been the subject of initial enquiries from the north Londoners, who are getting ready to swoop and beat off competition from the likes of United to seal a player who has been described as their ‘dream target’.

Valued at about £80m, this would be an audacious deal for the north Londoners to pull off, especially after wrapping a move up for Gallagher, but it would be well worth the chase.

How Wharton would become Spurs’ main man

Wharton has been instrumental in Crystal Palace’s meteoric rise under Oliver Glasner. Here is a club who can hold their head high, having defied odds and expectations to win the FA Cup and Community Shield in 2025. Now they compete on the continent.

Without Wharton, that would not have happened.

Described as “the best U21 player in the Prem” earlier in the season by one analyst, it’s surely not going to be too long until Wharton enters loftier conversations. Spurs must make sure he wears north London white when that happens.

Wharton is not a carbon copy of Gallagher; far from it. He would anchor the midfield and control play, aiding his industrious partner as he runs across the engine room.

A glance at the matrix above would tell you that Gallagher shares various properties with the Palace midfielder: both are strong and active duellers, making an above-average number of tackles and covering a lot of ground.

However, Gallagher is more advanced, and he is more accurate with his passing because his passing is simpler. He matches Wharton for chances created when looking at Premier League data, but from a forward role, he is more likely to connect with forwards ahead of him.

Wharton, by comparison, threads balls from a deeper berth, and he ranks among the top 9% of midfielders across Europe’s top five leagues for shot-creating actions and the top 6% for through balls completed per 90, as per FBref.

These countrymen can cohabit within Frank’s midfield, but regardless of the nuances between the two, it is Wharton who would shine brighter, a “passing machine“, as said by journalist Henry Winter, who would channel and dictate from the heart of Tottenham’s system.

This is what Tottenham need above all else. The demand for an innately progressive deep midfielder cannot be understated. You won’t find many better than Wharton, and he’s not even close to reaching his peak.

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