Adam Wharton Bids on Iconic Gerrard Shirt from 2005 Champions League

Adam Wharton didn’t just buy a shirt. He bought a piece of Liverpool mythology.

The Crystal Palace midfielder, heavily linked with a move to Anfield this summer, has been caught on camera nervously bidding on a rare signed Steven Gerrard shirt from the 2005 Champions League triumph in Istanbul. The footage, taken from an eBay Live stream, shows Wharton – using the handle @whartttty – glued to the countdown as the auction ticked towards zero.

With seconds left, he slammed in a final bid of £410 for the iconic red jersey, emblazoned with “European Champions Istanbul 2005” and crowned by Gerrard’s signature planted squarely above the old Carlsberg sponsor. When the hammer went down, Wharton couldn’t hide it.

“We got it,” he grinned, rocking back in his chair, a picture of satisfaction.

The clip then jumps to the 22-year-old outside, holding the delivery he’d been waiting for.

“So the shirt from Icon Memorabilia's live stream has just arrived – here it is. What a beauty that is,” he said, before the camera cut to the prize itself, laid out on a sun lounger, the red still vivid, the moment frozen in ink.

That shirt carries more than nostalgia. It carries one of the most dramatic nights in European football history.

Under the floodlights of the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in 2005, Gerrard dragged Liverpool from the brink. Rafael Benitez’s side were 3-0 down at half-time to an AC Milan team from a golden era, stunned by Paolo Maldini’s opener inside the first minute and a ruthless double from Hernan Crespo.

Liverpool looked buried. Then the game flipped.

Gerrard’s header on 54 minutes lit the fuse. Vladimir Smicer’s low drive two minutes later turned belief into noise. By the 60-minute mark, Xabi Alonso had forced home the rebound from his saved penalty, and the impossible comeback was complete.

From there, it became a test of nerve and resilience. Both sides dug in through the remainder of normal time and extra-time, defending desperately, legs heavy, minds sharper than bodies. Penalties were inevitable.

Liverpool held theirs. Milan did not.

Misses from Serginho, Andrea Pirlo and Andriy Shevchenko handed Liverpool a 3-2 shootout win and their fifth European crown. Gerrard lifted the trophy in that very shirt, the same design now sitting in Wharton’s hands.

All this drops into a summer thick with speculation over Wharton’s future.

Crystal Palace are desperate to keep him and have reportedly set a price of around £78 million for the midfielder after his rapid rise in south London. Liverpool, searching for long-term midfield solutions, are among the clubs circling, but they are not alone. Real Madrid have also been credited with serious interest.

So a Palace star, courted by Europe’s elite, sits at home bidding on a Gerrard Istanbul relic as talk of Anfield grows louder.

Coincidence, or a hint of where his heart is pulling him next?