Real Madrid are four points behind rivals Barcelona in the LaLiga table after four matches played, as the Merengue club frustratingly dropped points to mid-table sides Mallorca and Las Palmas.
However, Real Madrid showed strong signs against Real Betis, defeating one of the league’s top teams 2-0 behind a strong second half, with Kylian Mbappe breaking the duck with a brace.
Coming into the 2024/25 season, there was an even greater weight of expectations on Real Madrid than usual, as Los Blancos signed Mbappe, adding the French superstar to an already-loaded side that just won LaLiga and the Champions League.
Most of the summer hype, therefore, focused on the attacking trident of Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo Goes, and Mbappe with additional praise for Ballon d’Or candidate Jude Bellingham, as well as young prospects Arda Guler and Endrick.
Yet after four LaLiga fixtures, the best Real Madrid player of the early season thus far isn’t a forward, whether it is a rising prospect, a big-name superstar, or even an underrated super-sub like Brahim Diaz.
That honor belongs to Real Madrid’s new No. 8 after Toni Kroos’ retirement, Uruguayan midfielder Fede Valverde. The 26-year-old has steadily improved in every season since becoming a regular for Madrid in 2019/20, posting a career year in the 2023/24 campaign.
Valverde is off to an even better start in 2024/25, taking on even more responsibility after Kroos’ retirement. It was Valverde who assisted Mbappe’s first goal, backheeling the ball to the 2018 World Cup winner in a way that would certainly make Kroos – or Luka Modric, for that matter – proud.
Tied for the team lead in big chances created, second in key passes per game, and in the top three in both tackles and interceptions per match, Valverde has been an all-around beast in the Real Madrid midfield.
That’s about par for the course for the Uruguayan superstar, as Valverde performs as one of the best midfielders on the planet even if he gets a fraction of the credit, regularly snubbed in favor of players who are far less accomplished or talented.
Given Kroos suffered the same fate for years before finally getting his flowers at the very end, I guess that’s the curse of being a great Real Madrid midfielder, sharing the pitch with the giants of the attack.
But Fede Valverde has always been a team-first leader through and through. He won’t care about silly things like credit. For him, winning is enough. It’s more than enough. In fact, it’s everything.
That’s the mentality Fede brings to every duel, every dogged carry up the field, every scoring shot from beyond the blue, and every nifty little pass to an attacker in the penalty area.
Valverde is becoming a more and more refined leader in the middle of the park, and, right now, it’s hard to argue against the notion that he is Real Madrid’s most valuable player in 2024/25.
