Adam Wharton
Crystal Palace · Midfielder · England · 2,562 min
Ballity Verdict
What makes this player special?
Adam Wharton is the kind of midfielder coaches build possession around. At Crystal Palace, his real value is not goals or highlight assists — it is how cleanly he moves the team from safe zones into dangerous ones, almost never giving the ball away cheaply. Ballity's clearest read is deep-lying playmaker: he controls games more than he decides them.
He is not trying to be everything. The profile is concentrated: do deep-lying playmaker at a high level, and let secondary tasks stay secondary.
On the pitch he has actually been used as CM (#8) / DM (#6). That matters: skill-set breadth is one thing; demonstrated deployment is another. Wharton's authenticity claim starts from those minutes, not from a role board alone.
There are no major weakness flags screaming from the current profile — which does not mean he is complete, only that the main story is the strength of what he already does.
Why Ballity says this
- Clearest current facet: deep-lying playmaker (good)
- Shown minutes: CM (#8) / DM (#6)
- No major weakness flags in the current profile
Receipts
- · Player Profile
- · Role Breadth
- · Deployment authenticity
- · Sample · featured
Position
Midfielder
Appearances
34
Great+ roles
0
Age
22
Preferred foot
Left
Height
182 cm
Ballity insights
Peer context vs midfielders — how often they get the ball and what they do with it. Separate from role tiers above.
Usage rate
Share of team touches (non-GK) among midfielders with match data.
11.6% team touches
Peer band · Low
Pool percentile
35.7%
Also 59.7 touches/90 (season aggregate).
Efficiency
Output quality per action for midfielders.
60 score
Peer band · Minimal
Pool percentile
18.8%
Balance & structural weaknesses
How complete this player is on the position's job board — strengths and holes.
How we define this
Two-way = Great+ on ≥2 complementary axes. One-way = every other route Limited/closed. Weak routes = Average holes on complementary axes.
No Elite/Great axis on this position's job board, so no weakness flag.
Stat profile
Within position peers — percentile shape (not role scores).
Versatility Index
Precise 0–100 score — cross-group breadth (67%) plus within-group depth (33%), quality-scaled by tier. Distinct from the shape card below.
Index
39.2
Breadth 26.8 · Depth 12.4
- ·Fullbacks: Overlapping FB (Elite)
- ·Midfielders: Creator (Elite), Deep-Lying Playmaker (Good), Box-to-Box Midfielder (Good)
Versatility shape
Coarse directional pattern (Specialist / Dual-threat / Generalist) — not the 0–100 Index above.
Specialist
Good SpecialistDistinct Great+
0 Great+ roles total
Where he plays
Positions with deployment evidence — not statistical guesses.
Natural
Role translations
Where the profile could fit. Tap a position — then see which role style suits it.
Select a position on the pitch to see the best role, alternatives, and evidence.
Role-by-role detail
How each role is scored. Expand a row for a radar of role-shaped stats.
Similar players
Shape match across midfielder roles — cosine similarity of role scores (domestic leagues only). Slot 1 is the best same-league match; the rest are the next closest from the full pool.
Martin Ødegaard
Arsenal · PL 25/26
Closest roles
CreatorΔ9
Deep-Lying PlaymakerΔ10
Box-to-BoxΔ2
Maxime López
Paris FC · Ligue 1
Closest roles
- CreatorΔ2
- Deep-Lying PlaymakerΔ7
- Box-to-BoxΔ11
Declan Rice
Arsenal · PL 24/25
Closest roles
- CreatorΔ4
- Deep-Lying PlaymakerΔ2
- Box-to-BoxΔ5