Ex-Blue backs Chelsea to sign “top quality” Premier League ace over Liverpool and Man United | OneFootball

Former Chelsea star Carlton Cole wouldn’t be surprised if the Blues beat Liverpool and Manchester United to to the signing of Adam Wharton.

The Crystal Palace star is attracting interest from a number of top clubs, with Chelsea said to have had added Wharton to their list of targets.

Chelsea were linked with Wharton when he was at Blackburn, but he joined Palace for £22m in January 2024, and has established himself as one of the best midfielders in the league.

Carlton Cole backs Chelsea to sign Adam Wharton

Wharton was part of the Palace side which won the FA Cup last season, and has also been strongly linked with United.

It’s clear Wharton could be on the move this summer with the big clubs sniffing around, and Cole has tipped Chelsea to sign the England international.

Wharton is attracting interest from top Premier League clubs. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

“They’re going for everyone, Chelsea, aren’t they? All the top young players,” Cole said as quoted by Metro.

“Moises Caicedo is a top player, but adding Adam Wharton alongside Enzo Fernandez would create a formidable midfield. That’s a tasty combination, with those three in midfield and everything around it. That’s proper.

“It would be a very, very hard defence to get by. Going forward, they’ve got the lot.

“They probably need an extra pair of legs in there to bolster the midfield, especially with the Champions League and so many domestic games coming up.

“They might come up a little bit short if the boys aren’t fit to play, which burns out another part of your team.

“They could support that with a top-quality player from the English squad. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if Wharton went to Chelsea, and they’d look at that as an asset.”

Chelsea well stocked in midfield

Midfield is arguably Chelsea’s strongest area of the squad, and where they have the most depth, having added Andrey Santos and Dario Essugo to their existing options in the summer.

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However, any move for Wharton would need a big name midfielder to depart, and whilst that’s not impossible it’s questionable whether that would be the right thing to do.

It’s obvious why Chelsea are interested in Wharton, but they would have to create space for any potential arrival, and he would likely have more first team opportunities at other clubs.