Although Tottenham Hotspur are still battling with a stubborn Nottingham Forest to sign Morgan Gibbs-White as their next major signing alongside forward Mohammed Kudus, Spurs don't appear to be resting on their laurels when it comes to pursuing top targets at an even bigger position of need.
If Tottenham are able to sign Kudus and Gibbs-White, that will give them two known commodities in the Premier League who have the upside to do so much more at Tottenham with players like Dominic Solanke, James Maddison, Son Heung-min, Dejan Kulusevski, and Lucas Bergvall around them.
They will have two potential attacking game-changers. But what Tottenham need above all else - and what was their biggest need coming into the summer transfer window - is a stable No. 6 who can put it all together with quality of passing and positional play defensively.
Tottenham have already inquired about a destroyer type in Joao Palhinha, who was a top Premier League defensive midfielder at Fulham before becoming a complete afterthought with Bayern Munich.
Tottenham would have to pay a huge price
Now, according to a report from Dean Jones and Danny Rust of Give Me Sport, Tottenham manager Thomas Frank is eyeing Crystal Palace gem Adam Wharton, whom the new coach has personally picked out as his next transfer target in the middle of the park. Even though Palace are, as expected, holding out a king's ransom for the young midfield star, Frank believes that Spurs can still get him despite the whalloping 100 million pound asking price.
It's not unusual for Crystal Palace to ask for so much money from their top players, and if they were once asking Spurs 70 million pounds for Marc Guehi and around that much for Eberechi Eze this summer with his release clause, then it stands to reason that they'll start their price even higher for Wharton, who plays a scarcer position and is just 21 years old.
Virtually every club in the Premier League aspiring to make the Champions League year after year will be after Wharton, but you can argue that with their need for this specific profile in midfield, Tottenham should be after Wharton the most.
Wharton is the pick of Spurs supporters when it comes to the ideal candidate to sign for the No. 6 job, and while fans understand that Tottenham aren't going to pay anywhere near 100 million pounds for Wharton, the club should value Wharton highly. It's reasonable for him to cost well above 60 million pounds when looking at his traits and how few players like them there are among the young crop in English football.