Real Madrid center midfielder Fede Valverde is having a phenomenal start to the 2024/25 season, continuing his trend of steadily getting even better with each passing campaign.
Now 26 years old, Valverde is no longer an ascending young player. He is a leader in the prime of his career, entrusted with being a beacon of consistency and a steadying presence in the middle of the park.
Even as Real’s results to start the 2024/25 LaLiga campaign haven’t been optimal, Valverde himself has never wavered, helping keep Real Madrid at least undefeated.
Valverde has been the club’s best player to start the season, rising above the hype of Kylian Mbappe, the scrutiny of the attack, and the shadow of Toni Kroos’ retirement to make that prestigious No. 8 jersey proud.
As we appreciate how Valverde has morphed into one of the best all-around center midfielders in the world, it’s important to take a look back and pay some respect to the man who believed in him first, Zinedine Zidane.
It’s easy for a casual fan to write off Zidane’s second stint with Real Madrid as forgettable, since he didn’t win any Champions League titles to add to this three-peat.
However, it was Zizou who set the foundation for Carlo Ancelotti’s two (so far) Champions League-winning sides, with Valverde’s breakout being a prime example of that.
Real Madrid signed Fede for a meager five million euros from Peñarol in Uruguay in 2016. He started 12 games for LaLiga club Deportivo La Coruña in 2017/18 and 6 games in 2018/19 for Real Madrid, but he was never really a factor for either team.
In 2019, Zidane took over at Real Madrid again and had the task of transitioning the club from the three-peat era and Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure to Juventus. His job was to turn Real Madrid into a juggernaut once more after a woeful 2018/19 season, by their lofty standards.
Real Madrid had to phase out a few experienced attacking superstars. Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez, and Isco all had their chances under Zidane at the start of the 2019/20 season, but the legendary Frenchman soon realized that this trio wasn’t the same as the world-class group he coached previously.
Early on in the campaign, Zidane realized his midfield lacked grit and balance. Enter Fede. The 21-year-old impressed Zidane enough in a 15-minute cameo appearance against Sevilla on Matchday 5 to earn a start that following match against Osasuna.
And then he earned another. And then another. Before you knew it, Zizou started Valverde in three games in a row – two wins and a 0-0 draw against Atletico Madrid.
When Zidane didn’t start Fede, instead going back to James, Real Madrid lost 1-0 to Mallorca on the road. From then on, it was settled. The 21-year-old center midfielder from Uruguay was the fourth man in the midfield to give Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, or even Casemiro relief in the starting lineup.
Valverde finished his first season with 33 appearances and 21 starts, which is exceptional considering the “KCM” midfield was still the class of world football. Thanks to Fede’s industry and intensity, Real Madrid secured the league title.
Zidane saw that Valverde could perform the duties of two men in one and had a certain hunger about him that nobody else did. The former World Cup winner saw something special in Fede, and Fede rewarded him duly.
Surely, Zidane was just as enamored with Valverde as the fans were when he put it all on the line with his red card tackle against Alvaro Morata to save the Supercup against Atletico Madrid.
That play in Valverde’s first season as a Real Madrid regular showed the grit within the young man and exemplifies the kind of play that has followed from Madrid’s current 8.
Now, in the 2024/25 season, Valverde is a more creative and refined version of that fireball we saw in 2019/20. Last season, Valverde had a career-high seven assists.
This season, Valverde is averaging 2.5 key passes per game with 2.3 combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn per match. He is also averaging three combined tackles and interceptions per game, reminding everyone that he can bring the same defensive excellence with renewed creativity – and the occasional goal from out of nowhere.
As much as Fede used to be pigeonholed as an effort guy who just loves to run, the 26-year-old Real Madrid star is now a top-notch LaLiga creator in midfield and someone with the technical quality to score ridiculous goals from range.
Valverde can do it all. You can hardly name a midfielder as well-rounded as him right now, especially with the way he has started the season. And even though he didn’t begin at Real Madrid being this good or hyped as the next big thing, the five million euro man from Penarol has become every bit the world-class midfielder Zidane saw in him five years ago. My goodness how fast do the hands on the clock turn.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other major outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.