Fede Valverde already has a not-so-secret Premier League admirer
Real Madrid’s Uruguayan midfielder already has eyes on him from one Premier League team.
There is a world in which Fede Valverde woke up this morning to a box of chocolates and a bouquet of roses on his doorstep, with a card that reads: From your not-so-secret admirer, MC x.
The Uruguayan midfielder, after deducing who MC might be, would have presumably taken some of the chocolates, stuffed them into his glovebox of his BMW, and driven to the Valdebebas training ground on the northeast side of Madrid, next to the airport.
Through the crowd of cameras, he would have turned right, and under the barrier of the complex that has been cast onto the front pages of the country’s newspapers over the past week due to an altercation made public between himself and teammate Aurelien Tchouaméni, who reportedly came to blows.
This altercation is precisely why he, instead of getting in his car, is in fact staying at home with his feet up, watching House reruns.
During the scuffle with Tchouaméni, Valverde reportedly hit his head and was taken for scans. Real Madrid’s statement confirmed that he was “to stay at home” for between 10 and 14 days. Presumably, this inaction, coupled with the earlier overreaction, fuelled rumours of his departure, with reports emerging from England that Manchester United are interested in the player.
Whether this information is true or not, what seems almost certain is that Manchester United will have a midfield hole to fill after Casemiro’s expected departure to MLS. And if you open Manchester United’s transfer logbook, you will see that under ‘midfielders’ it simply reads: ‘See who Real Madrid have got.’ It worked last time.
Valverde is a key piece in the Real Madrid machine, both in attack and defence, and is the club’s second captain behind Dani Carvajal. While Casemiro’s trophy haul was greater than Valverde’s before his move to England, Valverde’s importance to the side is arguably equal or even greater. Replacing Fede is not a conversation for now, but it is an issue that would require significant thought, agreement, and planning. And that is something Real Madrid have, at least until now, been quite good at.
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