Real Madrid think Adam Wharton is their Toni Kroos replacement?

We’ve laid off the transfer rumours for about 6 weeks since, well, obviously. Pretty much everything you hear this time of year is wacky, and usually the result of agents chatting absolute shit to get their clients in the press, rather than directors of football making calls or internal club meetings leaking out.

But transfer rumours are still fun, and our readers largely enjoy speculation and analysis about them, so we’ll start throwing out the occasional rumours roundup every couple of weeks. Today’s have a very fun mix of realistic with aggressively stupid, and we’ll start up top with one that makes sense.

The Daily Mail claim that Real Madrid are scouting Crystal Palace central midfielder Adam Wharton, who has recently returned from a long-term injury. He’s got a limited sample for this season — and was far from his best early in the season after returning exhausted from the Euros — but he still looks like a top class deep-lying playmaker. Radar go brrr.

Wharton was credited with 6 key passes in Palace’s victory over Ipswich this weekend, though a few of them were from set pieces. That’s a valuable skill, but a bit misleading to lump in with the open play ones. In any event, his open play key passes still look awesome. Look at those glorious long lines from deeper areas to right in front of the box.

Wharton is very much a “pass before the assist” type guy though, and his value is more apparent in those kinds of metrics than key passes. A total of 72 Palace shots have involved a Wharton pass or carry somewhere in the buildup, and he’s played 916 minutes, so that’s about 7 times per 90. Of those, 14 have been above 0.2 xG.

StatsBomb’s xG Buildup is a model that attributes the final xG value of a shot to those involved in the buildup, minus the assister, and Wharton cleans up in that too. It is unsurprisingly a stat that favors players who are on really good teams that generate lots of shots. He’s at 0.7 xG Buildup per 90, which is better than every player on the second-tier European contenders — Newcastle, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Brighton, and Bournemouth. The only players above him play for Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal or Chelsea, with the one exception being Tottenham’s James Maddison.

Any questions about whether Wharton is worth a big transfer fee and a place in the squad of a rich Champions League contender will only be about his health. He is undoubtedly a good enough passer to play for one of those clubs. Rumours that Real Madrid is scouting him don’t sound ridiculous at all. —KM

More fun with transfer rumours

• If Real Madrid can’t get Adam Wharton or decide he’s too much of a fitness risk, a backup plan could be Enzo Fernandez from Chelsea. Problem for the Blues is they still owe so much on his amortized fee that selling him for £80m doesn’t let them book significant profit and give them buying power for a replacement. I think Enzo stays put unless he starts causing a ruckus.

• Related, apparently Madrid are open to offers for Eduardo Camavinga. The Premier League clubs interested would be: All of them.

• Sport says Mohamed Salah has “offered himself to Barcelona.” They can’t afford to pay him the same wage Liverpool is offering and he plays the same position as Lamine Yamal. Transfer rumour grade: F-

• A lot of publications are suggesting that Bruno Guimarães is a target for Arsenal, suggesting to me that his agent has learned to speak Yapanese. Totally plausible target, though I imagine Newcastle’s demands would make it impossible, especially if they finish top 5.

• “Mikel Arteta” has “made a list of 7 striker targets” that are the exact 7 guys a 12-year-old who is addicted to EA FC would have told you they should scout. What a coincidence.

• Every month Rafael Leão gets linked to a new team and it goes nowhere. This month it’s Liverpool. Big name dribbly boy highlights player with minimal end product and defensive work rate does not sound like a Liverpool signing at all.

• On the other hand, Liverpool signing Bournemouth left back Milos Kerkez is so believable that I kind of assumed it was already agreed for the summer. The rumoured price is £40m, which also makes sense for all parties.

• Kobbie Mainoo wants to leave Manchester United to go abroad. Manchester United want £70m for him. I cannot see a non-English club paying that fee for Mainoo, but PSG, Atlético Madrid and Juventus have all done much weirder things before.

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