Holds Carlo Ancelotti what does he have best midfield than he has ever had at Real Madrid. A line that also defines the team’s profile this season. Without counting a Bellingham with the soul and numbers of a forward, there are seven midfielders on the roster (Valverde, Tchouaméni, Camavinga, Kroos, Modric, Ceballos and Güler) and it could be said that six of them are pairs between them, which allows Carletto to alternate without altering the tactical drawing.
Luka modric and Toni Kroos They are players with good footing, footballers who contribute judgment and craftsmanship to the games. It’s difficult to see them together because of their age., which makes them suffer a lot in games with rhythm. But the Italian always has one of the two on the pitch. Aurélien Tchouaméni and Eduardo Camavinga They put the physical display, the vigor, the muscle. They are your gladiators in the heat of battle. The first has more of a midfield nature, while the second is more interior, although the coach takes advantage of his versatility to sometimes place him as an anchor or even on the left back. While Dani Ceballos and Arda Güler They are the nerve, the technical excellence. Youth and talent combined in two players who associate well with the people at the top and in games against rivals who close themselves in they work like a can opener.
Valverde, the most used midfielder
However, there is one that has no pair, a prime number in this template. Is about Federico Valverde, the only footballer capable of playing a leading role in both areas, a two-way player who gives the center of the field defensive work and attacking arrival. And that has caused the Uruguayan to become the coach’s trusted player. Of all the midfielders, and again excluding BellinghamUruguayan is the most used. He has 994 minutes in 13 games, starting in 11. His double profile has allowed him to recover 52 balls while making 19 shots, of which one ended up in the net, in addition to giving two assists. He scored another goal in Nervión, but the VAR disallowed it due to a previous offside by Bellingham.
Tchouaméni, to whom Ancelotti has given many minutes at the start of the season to settle into the team, is the one who comes closest. The former Monaco player has accumulated 923 minutes in 13 games, of which he started eleven. His alter ego, Camavinga, has played 778 in the same number of games and started in the eleven in ten of them. The two quarterbacks have seen how Ancelotti managed his effort, with a Kroos who has enjoyed 629 minutes in 12 games, with six starts, for the 485 of Modric, appearing in the eleven in five of his eleven games. For its part, Ceballos He is recovering from an injury and has only been on the pitch for 73 minutes, while Arda Güler has not been released yet.
Carletto does not have another ‘all-rounder’ to relieve Valverde and that has made him a fixture in the midfield, which he provides in both areas. The charrúa sweeps the entire space between areas. In his early days, in Santiago Solari’s Castilla, he came to play as a second striker, an offensive commitment that Ancelotti fueled last season by challenging him in public. “If Valverde doesn’t score more than ten goals this season it means they will take away my coaching card”, warned the Italian. He scored twelve and gave seven assists. Today Fede is recognized as the player with the most powerful shot on the squad and Carletto encourages him to join the attack and demonstrate it.
Valverde’s punch to Baena
The Uruguayan has not had easy months in recent times. Starting by the elimination of Uruguay in the group stage of the Qatar World Cup, finishing third after Portugal and South Korea, and only ahead of Ghana. Then came a difficult season for him on a sporting and personal level. Starting by the punch to the Villarreal player, Álex Baena, in April and following a series of injuries that prevented him from maintaining the rhythm all season. And to all that was added a pregnancy problem during your wife’s pregnancy which fortunately was resolved and concluded with the happy birth of his son Bautista on June 25.
Today the Valverdes, Fede, his wife Mina and their children Benicio and Bautista, they form a happy family. And Federico, at 25 years old, has even made his debut as captain of Uruguay in the South American qualifiers for the World Cup, already with Marcelo Bielsa as the new Uruguayan coach. ‘El Pajarito’ has become ‘Halcón’ and is the only prime number in the most powerful midfield that Ancelotti has directed at Real Madrid. A non-negotiable footballer in the eleven who signed for the whites in May 2015, after paying five million to Peñarol for a 16-year-old player.
Valverde’s value: 100 milltagsones
Today Its value is around 100 million, that is what he has been assessed as when Premier teams have asked about him, although neither the footballer nor Madrid are considering his departure. Valverde is getting closer to his dream, “wear the Real Madrid armband”something he did for the first time specifically in the 2022 preseason in a friendly against América de México in the United States.
The Uruguayan will play his 16th classic this Saturday in Montjuic, which will help him break the balance he presents Their record against Barça: seven wins, one draw and seven losses. Xavi will have to be careful, because the three goals he has scored against Barcelona (two in the League and one in the Super Cup) have been on Barça soil.