Luis Suarez has been in the rival camp of Real Madrid for a large part of his career. He established himself as a legend during his time at Barcelona. And then, he would end up joining Atletico Madrid, for whom he won a La Liga title as well. One of the greatest players of his generation without a shadow of a doubt, the Uruguayan recently had some good things to say about one of Los Blancos’ star.
The player in question is none other than Federico Valverde, who is a teammate of Suarez for the Uruguay national team.
Valverde has been very impressive this season, has taken his game to the next level and seems to have established himself as a regular starter for Real Madrid, whether it be as a right winger or as a midfielder. He is just that good.
Suarez even as far as to draw comparisons between Valverde and Steven Gerrard, who he played with at Liverpool. As reported by Marca, talking about the Real Madrid midfielder, the former Barcelona star said:
"“I, honestly, and there are the newspaper archives, already in 2017, when Fede debuted in the National Team, I already said that he reminded me of Steven Gerrard, who was my teammate at Liverpool. He has similar conditions. A box to box, with punch, change of pace, a lot of arrival… I don’t want to compare, but the characteristics are similar. I saw Fede coming and he has made tremendous progress, surrounded by big stars. He did very well.”"
Suarez makes huge claim about Real Madrid star
Valverde has certainly grown a lot as a player in recent times. This season, one area that he has improved in without a shadow of a doubt is his finishing, as he is consistently scoring goals now, something that has not been the case in the past.
If Valverde can continue on this path then he will go down as one of Uruguay’s best ever players. At 24 years of age, that destination is far away but he is at least on the right track.
There are clubs who are rumoured to be willing to offer a transfer fee in the region of €100 million, but Real Madrid should hold onto him for as long as they possibly can.