The new Henderson: Liverpool make £65m “cheat code” a top target

Comparison might be the thief of joy, but Liverpool supporters can’t help but look at the contrast between Arne Slot‘s side and Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table.

Looking at how the Reds compare to their own title-winning team of 2024/25 makes for even more miserable reading, and the current 12-match unbeaten run has done little to ease the frustrations.

Liverpool are in a top-four race, and it’s looking increasingly unlikely that FSG are going to sanction a big-money buy before the end of the January transfer window.

The latest on Liverpool’s search for a midfielder

So much has gone wrong at Liverpool this season, and the two parts of Slot’s tenure could not be more diametrically opposed.

Much has been made of defensive trouble and bluntness in attack, but the midfield system hasn’t worked this season, with Ryan Gravenberch ‘found out’ at number six and Alexis Mac Allister a shadow of his past self.

With this in mind, it’s understandable that FSG should be hoping to sign a new centre-midfielder in 2026, with one of the Premier League’s most exciting up-and-comers earmarked.

As per reports in Spain, Liverpool are planning to sign Crystal Palace star Adam Wharton this summer. Having admired the England international, who is only 21, for a while, sporting director Richard Hughes has now raised him to top-target status.

While the report suggests that Palace have set a base price tag of £65m, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur also share a vested interest in the player, but it’s the Anfield outfit who are said to be ‘leading the race’ to sign him due to their project.

Why Wharton would improve Liverpool’s midfield

It feels like the wheels are coming off at Selhurst Park, with Oliver Glasner leaving at the end of the season, Marc Guehi sold to Manchester City and the outfit currently enduring a ten-game winless run in all competitions.

Wharton remains a top midfielder, however, actually described by one analyst back at the start of the season as being “the best U21 player in the Prem“.

There’s some top talent about the English top flight, but Wharton may well be the pick of the bunch, with his technical gifts and completeness in the middle of the park leading analyst Ben Mattinson to hail him as a “cheat code”.

Should Liverpool sign this up-and-coming midfielder, they may even secure their new version of Jordan Henderson, who joined the club from Sunderland way back in 2011, when he was only 20 years old.

Now, the Three Lions star is one of Liverpool’s modern legends, having captained them through their trophy-laden journey in Jurgen Klopp’s system.

An intelligent and industrious midfielder, BBC Sports’ Danny Murphy called him an “extremely consistent performer” for Klopp, so effective in his leadership role.

Henderson was not a player to be defined by statistics, and you could say the same for Wharton, although the Eagles superstar has fashioned many openings and covered plenty of ground in the Premier League this season, mimicking Henderson in playing a complete role.

Wharton is a deep-lying midfield presence, for sure, but he also excels in creating. There is the result of his incredible range of passing. As per data platform FotMob, he’s created 26 chances in the Premier League this season, putting him in the top 3% of positional peers.

Moreover, Wharton has made 49 tackles and won 94 duels since the start of the league campaign, putting him in a high bracket for those conversations too.

He’s the real deal, instrumental in building this Palace side up to title-winning status, beyond anything they had previously seen. Sure to be an England regular for many years to come, why not say that Wharton might become Liverpool’s new version of Henderson, leading and controlling from the heart of the Anfield pitch?

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