Valverde: Real Madrid’s newest attacking weapon

On the night that the injured Karim Benzema showed off his newly-won Ballon d’Or to the Real Madrid faithful, the chant “Fede, Balon de Oro!” (you can probably work out what that means, even if you don’t speak Spanish) rung round Estadio Santiago Bernabéu.

Valverde’s transformation at Real Madrid

When they say that a soccer player has enjoyed ‘an incredible transformation’, it’s often in the context of the fact that said player hadn’t previously been having a great time and had managed turned things around. In the case of Fede Valverde, his ‘incredible transformation’ is a stylistic, rather than a performance-related, one.

The Uruguayan was once thought of as a stand-in and long-term replacement for the tough-tackling Casemiro, a broadly defensive-minded player who would break up play and shuffle the ball on to more ‘talented’ teammates such as Luka Modrić and Toni Kroos.

In the last couple of years, however, Valverde has developed into one of Real Madrid’s most potent attacking weapons, a powerhouse when running with the ball and a non-stop pressing machine. Just ask Barcelona’s Alejandro Balde, who, according to Spanish football journalist Sid Lowe of The Guardian, claimed that the young left-back appeared to be afraid of Valverde in the recent Clásico when speaking on The Spanish Football Podcast.

Valverde: more shots, more goals

And this season, the ex-Peñarol man has added a further, devastating weapon to his game – goals. Prior to this term, Valverde had netted five goals in 104 LaLiga games and six times in 148 matches in all competitions. In 2022-23, he has already scored six goals in 11 league fixtures and seven in 16 overall, making him Los Blancos’ joint-top goalscorer across the campaign and top LaLiga marksman.

As recently as last season, we would have seen Valverde given right flank to himself, with his endless energy enabling him to contribute effectively in both defence and in attack. This year, though, he has played a narrower role starting from the right and, as a result, found himself in shooting positions with much greater frequency.

“Before this year, we’d been telling Valverde that he needed to shoot more. He makes me suffer too in training. He’s got an incredible shot on him, they’re impossible to stop.”

Those words from teammate Thibaut Courtois will have been echoed by Sevilla goalkeeper Bono, Valverde’s latest victim on Saturday night. With Real Madrid having just scored to edge 2-1 in front going into the final 10 minutes of the game, Valverde found the net from the angle of the box with the kind of ferocious drive that he’s starting to become known for.

The Uruguayan has now scored four goals from outside the box in LaLiga this season, already more than anyone managed in the last campaign. Could he close in on Lionel Messi’s all-time record of nine in a single season? Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti will certainly hope so, not least because it almost certainly means he will be able to continue his coaching career…

Carlo Ancelotti’s bet with Fede Valverde

The Italian recently revealed that he had made a bet with Valverde to retire from football if he failed to score at least 10 goals this term. Only three to go to ensure Carletto remains on the bench after the summer.

In his post-match press conference, Ancelotti looked to play down the Ballon d’Or hype surrounding his now fully-fledged star. “Let’s not get too carried away. In the future, Valverde just needs to be himself.”

Looking to the immediate future, the Montevideo native will miss Real Madrid’s midweek Champions League encounter with RB Leipzig after being on the receiving end of a nasty challenge from Sevilla’s Papu Gómez. Tests on Sunday confirmed ankle bruising, although Valverde is expected to be ready for his team’s next league fixture at home to Girona next weekend, in which he’ll be looking to score for a fourth successive league game.