Crystal Palace seal £22.5m Adam Wharton transfer as he’s announced in brilliant ‘welcome to London’ video

3 months ago 26

CRYSTAL PALACE have confirmed the signing of Blackburn wonderkid Adam Wharton.

The 19-year-old completed a £22.5million transfer – £18m of that upfront – to the South London side earlier today.

Crystal Palace have signed Adam Wharton from Blackburn[/caption]

He penned a five-and-a-half year deal and hopes to have a similar impact to Ebere Eze and Michael Olise at Selhurst Park.

Wharton said: “I’ve always wanted to play in the Premier League and to play for such a big club like Crystal Palace is a great honour.

“The way they’ve brought players from the Championship and developed them into world-class players in the Premier League is something that stood out to me, and it’s a big reason why I wanted to come here.”

Discussing the teenager’s transfer, Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish added: “I’m delighted that Adam, a player whose rapid development we have followed closely, has decided to join us at Crystal Palace.

“Adam’s consistently impressive performances for Blackburn at such a young age have understandably caught the eye of many a club, but we believe Palace to be – as has so often been the case in recent years – the perfect place to harness his undoubted potential, and we look forward to working with him in the years ahead to do so.”

Wharton made 51 appearances for Blackburn before swapping Ewood Park for Selhurst Park.

SunSport exclusively revealed last week that Chelsea were also interested in signing the midfielder.

Blues’ sporting director Paul Winstanley watched him in action last month, but did not table a bid.

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Wharton signed a four-and-a-half year deal with Blackburn having established himself as an important first team player.

Rovers turned down an initial £18.5m bid for him last week, but Palace returned with an improved offer on Wednesday.