Harry Kane snubs Arsenal and Tottenham stars and picks rogue young player to watch out for

Harry Kane recently overlooked the best young players from Arsenal and Tottenham when asked to name his favourite emerging talent. The 31-year-old is Tottenham’s finest academy product, having progressed through their ranks on his way to becoming one of the world’s best strikers.

The north Londoners have plenty of talented youngsters on their hands, including the likes of Mikey Moore and Lucas Bergvall. Arsenal, meanwhile, have consistently produced top players with Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly leading the next generation.

Kane, however, singled out a Crystal Palace starlet when asked by Goal to name a young player people should be keeping an eye on. During a round of quick-fire questions, the England captain showed little hesitation as he simply responded: “Adam Wharton.”

Wharton joined Palace at the start of this year and made an instant impact with his assured displays in the middle of the park. He was rewarded with a place in the England squad at Euro 2024 but did not play a single minute at the tournament.

The 20-year-old enjoyed dinner with Kane during his time in camp, according to the Daily Mail, with the pair clearly fond of each other. He has also been hailed by Palace veteran Joel Ward, who believes the young midfielder can reach the very top.

Ward told talkSPORT: “I think he’s got the world at his feet. He’s a young lad and he’s very mature, very wise. He plays the game, reads the game and understands the game so well. His ability on the ball, his vision and what he’s seeing ahead of time is pretty impressive.”

Wharton has played nearly every game for Palace this season but has been nursing a groin injury he sustained over the summer. Medical staff have been weighing up the idea of Wharton having surgery, but that would mean losing him for an indefinite period of time.

Palace boss Oliver Glasner recently confirmed that Wharton was taking painkillers to help manage the injury, which could require further treatment if the pain continues to deteriorate.

“At the moment, it’s okay,” said Glasner. “He can do all the training sessions with pain, some days more, some days less. He is really the first guy [into the training ground] in the morning, together with Marc [Guehi].

“He is here in the morning and leaving very late [after] a lot of treatment, so he’s very professional. I have a lot of respect for him for how he deals with this, but we need him. He knows this. We hope it gets better but, to be honest, it doesn’t look like that.”