This is an updated version of an article first published in October 2025. “Adam Wharton is always watching…”Those five words accompanied a video the Premier League posted from its official Instagram account last season.The footage had been doing the rounds on social media for a while. In case you didn’t see the clip, it showed Wharton warming up at Everton. Alone in his thoughts with a ball at his feet, the Crystal Palace midfielder dribbled around the pitch with his head up, visualising the positions he was going to take up, picturing the movements of players, and practising scanning, which feels like an art that he mastered a long time ago.
— Premier League (@premierleague) October 10, 2025A couple of hours later, Jack Grealish reluctantly accepted the the man-of-the-match award after scoring the winning goal. “That should have gone to Adam Wharton,” Grealish said. “He was the best player on the pitch.”Another clip of Wharton was posted a few days later, this time by Palace, showing a passage of play against Chelsea. Receiving in a pocket of space inside the Chelsea half, Wharton turned beautifully, expertly playing a one-two with Ismaila Sarr that enabled him to glide away from Moises Caicedo, and then fed Jean-Philippe Mateta with one of those lovely crisp passes that he always seems to see way before you.‘Midfield magic from Adam Wharton’ was the line above the clip with an emoji to match.
