Liverpool ‘favourites’ to land £100m Crystal Palace star who’s ‘ready to wait’ for Reds over Tottenham

Will Ford
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot celebrates a win
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot celebrates a win

Liverpool are reportedly the ‘favourites’ to land Crystal Palace star Adam Wharton, who’s ‘ready to wait’ for a Reds bid rather than moving to Tottenham.

The Reds were pushed into a move for Hugo Ekitike after Newcastle had a €70m [£61m] rejected for the 23-year-old striker, and after having their own bid of €80m [£69m] knocked back by the Bundesliga side, have now reached an agreement for the 23-year-old, according to Fabrizio Romano.

The transfer expert wrote on X: ‘BREAKING: Hugo Ekitike to Liverpool, here we go! Deal in place for fee over €90m for the French striker to join from Eintracht Frankfurt, potentially reaching €95m. Six year deal for Ekitike, valid until June 2031; he only wanted Liverpool move. New striker for Slot.’

And after The Athletic’s David Ornstein originally broke the news of a breakthrough in talks between Liverpool and Frankfurt over Ekitike’s transfer, he revealed that ‘further additions’ are expected to Arne Slot’s squad.

‘The Anfield club have been prioritising a striker this summer and, while sensitivities remain understandably high following the tragic death of Diogo Jota earlier this month, there is an awareness they need to make further additions after bringing in Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez.’

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Wharton is a player they’re interested in and while The Sun claims they appear to have won a battle with Tottenham for his signature, they also claim that both the midfielder and Liverpool are happy to wait to seal his transfer next summer.

Crystal Palace have reportedly slapped a £100m price tag on their prized asset and will be delighted amid strong interest in both Marc Guehi and Eberechi Eze that the 21-year-old ‘is ready to put his move to Liverpool on hold for a year’.

It’s claimed that Wharton – who’s also of interest to Tottenham – is ‘happy to stay at Selhurst Park for another season’, which makes Liverpool ‘favourites to land him’ as they too would ‘prefer to wait after big changes to their squad this summer’.

Blackburn are due a 15 per cent cut of profit over the £18m Palace paid up front for their former academy star 15 months ago, which is likely a major factor in Palace’s high asking price, along with their desire to cling to their star players.

Arsenal and Chelsea are both keen on Eze, who has a £68m release clause payable in three instalments, while Bayern Munich are also keen on the playmaker.

And Liverpool have already made a move for Guehi, though aren’t willing to stretch to the £45m Palace want for him given there’s just one year remaining on his deal at Selhurst Park.