Real Madrid: 3 things that make Fede Valverde untouchable
His attacking upside cannot be ignored
Although Fede Valverde’s 2020-2021 campaign was somewhat derailed by injury, he did make an impression in his second season as a regular Real Madrid player. The center midfielder was especially impressive at the beginning of the season from a goal-scoring perspective, as he showed some downright scary finishing in front of goal, turning half-chances into slam-dunks for a Real side in desperate need of secondary scoring options around Karim Benzema.
Fede scored three goals from Sept. 26 to Oct. 31, finishing off the month of October with a goal and assist against Huesca. He could not continue to build on those performances, but his recent excellent free kick goal for the Uruguay national team is another sign of that burgeoning quality in the final third.
We talk a lot about Fede’s heart, defensive contributions, and athleticism. His ball-carrying is starting to get praised, and he has a pass completion percentage of 90.5 thus far in LaLiga, per WhoScored.com. But amidst all of that, we can easily overlook his technical quality, which is exquisite at times, even if it is not 100 percent polished yet.
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At 23, Valverde is still a handful of years away from entering his peak of technical excellence in midfield. That means he is just scratching the surface offensively. We have seen some of those scratches manifest themselves in goals, assists, and pre-assists. There will be more to come from the midfielder, including in 2021-2022.