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Federico Valverde He is one of the players with the greatest projection that Uruguayan football has. The fact of playing for so many seasons in a team as competitive as Real MadridDoing it on a recurring basis and becoming an important piece in the team’s scaffolding makes him a man to follow for his present and especially for his future.
Of course, it is one of those names that is usually there when one imagines the selection of the future and above all they consider him a man who could command the midfield of the merengue team in the coming years and that led to them rejecting certain offers that came for him.
All this, added to the fact that he had a great end to the 2019/20 season and a good start in 2020/21 allowed him to earn a place among the 100 best players of the year according to the prestigious medium The Guardian.
The “Pajarito” ranks 66th and it is his first time in this ranking that is made up of a jury of 241 people, including players, former players, coaches and journalists from around the world.
Valverde, 22, is also among the 17 players on this list who are the same age or younger than him, where players such as Ansu Fati (18), Erling Haaland (20), Joao Felix (21) or Kylian Mbappé (22) stand out. ).
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But the truth is that his presence on the Guardian list was a harbinger of the same medium since five years ago it put him as one of the 50 promises of world football.
Valverde was just taking his first steps in professional football and he was not well known outside the borders, to the point that in the ranking they put the photo of Marcelo Saracchi who had been his partner in the U15 and U17 teams of Uruguay.
In 2015, The Guardian published: “It will not be long before Valverde’s name is accompanied by transfer gossip and exciting YouTube compilations. It is that his talent stands out above the noise of the transfer from his hometown club, Peñarol, to Real Madrid in May, for 5 million euros, which came after a test with Arsenal and speculation that Chelsea was interested in him. Valverde is an energetic midfielder with a great right foot and a keen eye for goal., demonstrated by his seven goals in nine games for Uruguay during this year’s South American U-17 Championship. He has been loaned back to Peñarol for the season, debuting in the senior category in August, and the speed with which he adapts to the higher level may determine his chances of a future in the first team in Madrid. “
As usually happens with each player who earns a place in the 50 promises of The Guardian, each one of them is monitored year after year and by 2020 with a consolidated Valverde and ceasing to be a promise to be among the 100 best players of the year the following was said about the “Pajarito”.
“Five years is a long time in soccer. In 2015, Valverde was named one of the top 50 young talents in world soccer on The Guardian’s Next Generation list. Now he rises to the top ranking after a year in which he has become a must-have cog in Zinedine Zidane’s midfield. Valverde has grown into an excellent all-around midfielder who can skillfully move possession, press hard and break lines with bursts of speed. He’s adding goals to his game and one Of them, in October, he opened the scoring at the Real Madrid classic at Camp Nou. Nicknamed “Pajarito,” Valverde adds a classic Uruguayan toughness along with the energy and dynamism that have long been a problem for the aging hall. of Real machines “, said the journalist Nick Ames, the same one who had written the first lines on the Uruguayan steering wheel.
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Lewandowski the leader; Suárez fell several positions
As in The Best awards, Robert Lewandowski beat Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the Pole was considered the best of the year and finished in first place.
The other Uruguayan who was among the top 100 was Luis Suárez, who ranked 58th and dropped 32 positions compared to 2019.
“Down 32 places, but on the way back? Expelled in Barcelona, where he had become the third highest scorer in his history, some thought that Suárez had run out of time due to knee problems. Diego Simeone, however, was not among them. Atletico’s longtime admirer manager pushed to bring him to Madrid, causing Barcelona to back off momentarily at the last minute, terrified that it might still turn out good enough. did “, they express about the” Gunman “
For the full list of the top 100 click here.
