The England squad has been set and includes four Crystal Palace players, and now Declan Rice has shared his view on Adam Wharton.
Gareth Southgate has done what six months ago would’ve seemed unthinkable by naming four Crystal Palace players in his England squad for the European Championships.
Adam Wharton, Dean Henderson, Eberechi Eze and also Marc Guehi have all been named in the 26-man squad to head to Germany on Monday.
For Wharton in particular, this will all be a huge shock as just six months ago he was still at Blackburn in the Championship, and even during the last round of international friendlies he was a U20.
Now, Wharton has found himself on the receiving end of praise which says a lot about how much he’s impressed his peers in the England squad after making his debut on Monday.
Declan Rice explains exactly what the England squad think about Adam Wharton
Speaking in a press conference as the squad was announced, Declan Rice was asked about the inclusion of the young midfielders in England’s squad, particularly Wharton.
As quoted by the BBC, Rice explained: “He fully deserves his place in the squad. Adam [Wharton] played the first half of his season in the Championship and to come to Crystal Palace, he has been outstanding.
“In training, he has been impressing a lot of the players, he’s so calm on the ball and he has a beautiful left foot.”
However, continuing, the England leader aimed to take some pressure off his 20-year-old countryman.
“I think there’s a difference, you can see in players who are top-level players at 20 and players that are on the cusp of stuff.
“And he’s top level. He sees a pass early, the left and right foot. It’s impressive the way he passes a ball. Whether it’s five or ten yards, there’s just a crispness to it. Really impressive. Calm, composed, relaxed.
“You speak to the Crystal Palace boys about him, he’s shocked them on how well he’s done.
“But he’s 20-years-old, it’s his first tournament. It’s so important we don’t put too much pressure on him. Let him flourish and England are going to have an amazing midfielder to come through for the next 10 to 15 years.”
Crystal Palace hit the jackpot with Adam Wharton
Recent years have seen recruitment at Selhurst Park boast some pretty big success stories, with Eze and Michael Olise being two of these.
But as the weeks and months go on, and Wharton’s star continues to rise it seems more and more sure that he will be the best acquisition of the lot.
Rice’s complimentary words on Wharton are evidence of this as the Arsenal midfielder used countless superlatives to laud the Eagles maestro.
The midfielder is set for a huge career, and this summer is just the beginning no matter how his Euros tournament goes – although if we had to bet, we’d imagine he impresses here as well.
