The birth of one of the best midfielders: when did Valverde start to emerge as Real’s gem and what helped him get there?

Federico Valverde is currently one of the most trendy players in the world. No one doubts his contribution to Real Madrid anymore, on the contrary, he is increasingly being talked about as one of the best midfielders in the world. When did this start to happen?

Often players have a favourite opponent that they play against or score goals against better than others. But rarely is it the biggest rival like Federico Valverde. The Real Madrid midfielder has scored his third goal against Barcelona, no team has scored more goals.

Top 3 in the world

In El Clásico, he was man of the match, and not only thanks to the winning goal. He is practically everywhere on the pitch, helping out the midfield, attack and defence. His position on the pitch doesn’t really have a name. For Real Madrid, especially in these important games, he has become a key player that Ancelotti can’t afford and when he has to replace someone, he prefers to withdraw Modric and Vinícius rather than Valverde.

After the Barcelona game, the 24-year-old is receiving praise from all sides. “I want a Valverde like Valverde in my life, ” Iker Casillas wrote on Twitter. “Fede Valverde top 3 in the world right now,” teammate Toni Kroos complimented him. “I have the best teacher, ” Valverde replied.

The Uruguayan midfielder is in his fifth season at Real Madrid, but it was only in his last season that he earned a solid place in the starting lineup. How did he do it?

The match that turned everything around

It’s exactly 276 days since Valverde changed the footballing world. On 12 January 2022, he made an emphatic move among the elite, where he has remained. Now, nobody discusses him anymore, not even the presence of Kroos and Modric prevented him from blossoming footballingly.

At the moment, this makes Valverde untouchable in the line-up, only that was not the case last year after the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti. In the centre of midfield the Italian had a clear Kroos-Modric pairing, he didn’t use him on the right wing, Bale played there at the beginning, then Asensio or Rodrygo.

Valverde was also hampered by injuries and Ancelotti didn’t rotate the lineup much. But then came the fateful day in January, when everything turned for the better. Real Madrid challenged Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Spanish Super Cup and Valverde came on for Modric in the 82nd minute to take the game into extra time. And it was a masterful substitution.

The Montevideo native was literally flying on the pitch and decided the match with the winning goal to make it 3-2. It was after this match that he took the advice of those around him and started working even harder to turn the situation around. He started working with an individual trainer and also changed his lifestyle.

“I won’t say I didn’t watch myself 100%, but sometimes I got carried away. I didn’t eat badly, but after games I probably didn’t eat the right things. I spoke to a nutritionist and we improved my diet,” Valverde revealed in an interview with El MUNDO.

“I went to Uruguay for a reunion and I was flying on the pitch. I played very well and that made me change. I felt better than ever. I didn’t stop eating anything in particular, but I started to have more control. I started working with the coach, really within a few days I realized that I had to change,” describes the Los Blancos midfielder.

“The change in my eating and working with an individual coach took my career to a new level. I’m pretty stubborn, if I have to break through a wall to stand up for my point of view, I’ll do it. Coaching has helped me grow tremendously in this regard,” Valverde added.

The new Gerrard

It was the national team reunion that was another important moment in Valverde’s shift. Coach Diego Alonso offered him to change his nickname “El pajarito” (the bird) to “El halcón” (the hawk). This motivation and especially confidence helped Fede enormously, as did the support from teammate Luis Suárez.

The former Barcelona player drilled into his head that he needed to believe in himself more, that he had everything he needed to become a great player. He even told Valverde that he reminds him of Steven Gerrard from his Liverpool days.

As the season has progressed, Valverde has gradually endeared himself to Ancelotti as well. He is starting to play more and more and is also becoming very important. He was on the bench in the first semi-final in Paris, Ancelotti acknowledged after the game that Real need to press more and go into a pressing game, that the block doesn’t always work.

The key man of extra time

Thus, in the rematch, he calls Valverde into action, who with his fantastic performance will cement his place in the starting line-up, which he will not drop for the rest of the season. He is at all the historic turnovers, playing the full 120 minutes in both the rematch with Chelsea and Manchester City.

In the Champions League final against Liverpool, he also assists on the only goal scored by Vinícius. He finishes the season with 46 games played and one goal scored. His versatility allows Ancelotti to reinforce the centre of midfield or strengthen the attack with Vinícius and Benzema.

Thus, in the run-up to the new season, Ancelotti knows that Valverde will want to further cement his position as a key player in the new season. So the Italian will talk to his charge and tell him that he can be even more important.

“What I found strange last season was that Valverde scored only one goal. I told him he has a cannon in his leg and if he doesn’t score at least 10 goals next season I will tear up my coaching licence and retire,” Ancelotti said after the Leipzig game.

At the moment Valverde has five goals to his name, as do Benzema and Rodrigo, with only Vinícius ahead of him with seven. He is the third most used player with 1076 minutes, only Vinícius (1164) and Alaba (1095) have played more. His value continues to rise, together with Tchouameni he is the second most valuable player (80 million euros) of the squad, only behind Vinícius (120 million euros).

Source: MARCA