It's been a long and eventful Premier League season for Crystal Palace fans this year. However, the appointment of Austrian manager Oliver Glasner in February signaled the start of a new era at the club.
The 49-year-old has five points from his first four games in charge and started winter signing Adam Wharton in each one.
The youngster looks like he could have an incredibly bright future at Selhurst Park, although he's still worth significantly less than one of his teammates.
What Crystal Palace paid for Adam Wharton
After a month of back-and-forth negotiations, the Eagles finally completed the £18m signing of Wharton from Blackburn Rovers on February 1st, agreeing to a five-and-a-half-year deal with the highly-rated youngster.
Despite being 19 at the time, the Blackburn-born gem had already made 51 appearances for Rovers' first team and was described as "one of the most exciting English U-19 talents around" and the "The English Cambiasso" by talent scout Jacek Kulig.
The now 20-year-old has already made six appearances for the south Londoners in his short time at the club, five of those starts, and looks relatively comfortable in the Premier League.
His rapid rise from academy gem at Ewood Park to first-team regular at Palace has been mirrored by the rise in his valuation, with Football Transfers' Expected Value model pricing the young Englishman at just around €1m – £860k a year ago. The £18m man still has a way to replicate the rise of homegrown talent, Tyrick Mitchell, however.
Tyrick Mitchell's valuation at Crystal Palace
Mitchell joined Palace as a youngster after Brentford dissolved their youth setup in 2016. After spending a few years working his way up through the various youth sides, he made his full debut for the first team in a 2-0 Premier League defeat away to Wolverhampton Wanderers in July 2020.
In the three and a half years since that game, the Brent-born full-back has made 134 appearances for the south Londoners. In September 2023, he became the youngest player in the club's history to make 100 Premier League appearances.
The 24-year-old's importance to the team has been undeniable in recent seasons, and with new boss Glasner continuing to start him since taking over, it looks as if the "technically super-gifted" left-back, as ex-youth coach Gabriel Flores described him, will keep his place in the team for some time to come.
Appearances
134
Goals
2
Assists
7
Goal Involvements per Match
0.06
His consistent performances in arguably the toughest league in world football have also impacted his valuation. In January 2021, Football Transfers' Expected Value model priced him at just €3 – £2.5m, whereas he's now valued at around €25m, which is about £21m, or more than Wharton's £18m transfer fee.
Crystal Palace were rinsed by £170k-p/w signing who earned more than Eze
The highly-rated star cost the clubs millions and offered nothing in return.
ByJack Salveson HolmesMar 22, 2024
Ultimately, Palace have a young star on their hands in the former Blackburn gem, but they have arguably done even better in nurturing Mitchell from the academy up to a £21m Premier League-level left-back.