Welcome to the Wharton age

Introducing Adam Wharton: the low-socked Blackburn prodigy on growing up, his developing England career, and how Busquets and Frenkie shape his game.

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Adam Wharton is just 19. He’s tall, his head is shaven, his words are soft and well-measured. When we ask, he insists his media training has not been too intense - but you can still feel a gravity to his words. He speaks with the care of a young person who understands every sentence could be picked apart.

That’s not to say he is defensive or reserved. In fact, as we chat over lunch, the opposite reveals itself to be true: Adam is expressive and well spoken. Of course, we’re sitting with his agent, James Featherstone, in the headquarters of his agency, OmniSports - a decadent industrial building ten minutes from Manchester Piccadilly - so his safety net is obvious. Upstairs is a recording studio complete with a well-stocked bar and signed pictures of David Bowie.

As we introduce ourselves, the conversation dances casually around: we speak of the World Cup in Qatar and living around the corner from his training ground and his favourite trainers and what we’d ordered for lunch (Tom was very proud to order the same salad as the professional athlete) and any concerns about the teenager’s affability faded.

We met Adam late in December, as the rest of the world was preparing to rest. No such respite is offered to footballers, no matter how young. I ask Adam how he feels about Christmas as a professional; with Boxing Day games a regular fixture, most managers still hold training on Christmas Day.

“Except [Tony] Mowbray,” he says. “Mowbray never did.”

Unfortunately for the prospect of a full roast dinner, Tony Mowbray left Blackburn Rovers, Wharton’s current and childhood club, in May 2022. He was replaced by Jon Dahl Tomasson, a decorated ex-player and young coach with big ideas.

Since Tomasson’s arrival, Wharton has become a key member of Blackburn’s first team. He’s made 25 appearances in the league this season, received his England U-20’s debut, and even made the SCOUTED50 list of the world’s most exciting young players, an accolade of which we’re sure he’s most proud. He’s an all-action, low-socked midfielder and he’s drawing serious attention from across Europe.

But that’s not a discussion for our Christmas-time meet. After lunch we move upstairs to a boxy, glass-walled room overlooking a dreary parking lot. As we discussed Tomasson, Wharton’s upbringing, his burgeoning England career and much else, the sun broke its cover and washed through the room. For most of that hour, it hardly felt like December at all.

“Playing anywhere and everywhere,” Wharton says, when we ask about his earliest football memories. “I had two older brothers so I was always kicking about with them, in the garden, at school, for my local club, and then I joined Blackburn’s under six team. That’s all I wanted to do.

“I got in through my brother (Scott Wharton) who joined a bit later, at under-12 level. After he signed they asked him ‘have you got any brothers?’ So I started going once a week, on a Friday after school, and I never looked back. I’ve known Blackburn basically my whole life.”