Scouting Report: Federico Valverde

If I told you that a 22-year-old was a key hub at Real Madrid and played for a country that expected to go far in World Cups, you’d think he’d be a big deal in the hobby.

Well, here we are.

Federico Valverde in a bit of an underrated prospect to the masses considering what he has done so far. But just how does he match up with our scouting rubric? In this article, we’ll find out.

Player Information

Name: Federico Valverde
Age: 22
Position: Central Midfielder
Club: Real Madrid
National Team: Uruguay

Federico Valverde Scouting Report

Minutes

Giving Valverde a score from 1-4 for how often he plays is a bit of a tricky one this year.

Last season, he was a key cog in Real Madrid’s midfield and featured 33 times over the season, playing over 1500 minutes in La Liga alone.

This season he’s fallen out of favor a little in Zidane’s side and isn’t playing as frequently as you’d like. However, for me, it’s hard to give Valverde anything below top marks here. He’s a young guy who is playing bulk minutes for a top side. Sure, Real Madrid haven’t been their world-beating selves at times this season but Valverde is an important player going forward.

"Feel"

Feel is always a hard thing to judge, however one of Valverde’s biggest upsides is his versatility throughout midfield.

Just check out this heat map from over his career.

Pure box to box. However, he made his biggest steps forward last year playing on the right of a three-man midfield.

I’ve seen Valverde do it all throughout the midfield, even stepping into roles as almost a quasi-10.

To be able to do all that, along with the pressing that I’ll mention later, it’s hard to give Valverde anything less than a 3 or 4 here.

I’ll give him a 4. It’s hard to be this well-rounded without having elite feel for the game.

Ball Progression

While Valverde is incredibly well-rounded, his progressive passing isn’t a strong point - or, I should say that it isn’t a big part of his game at the moment.

Over the last calendar year, he’s averaged 3.26 progressive passes per 90 minutes - which is the 31st percentile with other midfielders in the top five European leagues.

If you’re wondering what a progressive pass is, here’s the definition from FBRef.com

Valverde is much more of a progressive carrier than he is a progressive passer. He’s in the 81st percentile for progressive carries per 90, and the 91st percentile among mids in the top 5 Euro leagues when looking at carries into the final third.

So, looking at both progressive passing and carrying, I’d put Federico Valverde’s ball progression as a three out of four. His carrying is often a catalyst in moving from defense to attack - but most of Valverde’s passing work is done tight with shorter link-up play and shorter passes in the attacking third.

If played in a system that emphasized he complete more progressive passes from deep, I’m sure Valverde could do it - but it’s hard to give him top marks when that isn’t his role.

Defending

A lot of people would look at Valverde’s horrible tackling counting stats (1.78 tackles per 90 over the past calendar year) and automatically give him a poor grade.

However, there’s a few things I want to point out. Most of all, his defensive work in the attacking third.

While he may only attempt 1.78 tackles per 90, 0.61 of them are in the attacking third, which is in the 98th percentile for mids! On top of that, his 4.69 pressures per 90 is in the 95th percentile among midfielders.

Positioning-wise, I really like Valverde’s work too. Here’s a clip from a recent match. You can see that he does well with his body position to force the attacker to hit that overlap that isn’t really there - which kinds stifles Elche’s attack. Valverde then holds position well and forces a pass backwards.

Actions like this don’t jump out at you like some massive chase-down tackle (in fact, I’d argue that the only reason a player needs to do a big chase-down is because they’re out of position in the first place - but that’s another story), but it’s a bunch of little things like this, and just generally knowing where to be that help Madrid defensively.

So, for defensive work, I’d give Valverde a 3.

Creation

Creation is another weird one for Valverde.

You can look at it in a few ways. On one hand his shots created per 90 is 70th percentile among mids - nothing special.

However, he does get a lot of possession in the final third, and does carry the ball into the box at a high rate. Alongside that, his 0.4 goal creating actions per 90 is elite among midfielders in the best European leagues.

With that, his shots created from defensive actions (which adds up looking at his defensive numbers in the attacking third) is also incredibly high.

Valverde isn’t an elite chance creator yet, but he does create a lot of goals for his side, and his progression into the final third and penalty box is a catalyst of a lot of Madrid’s attacks over the past 12 months.

Finishing

Valverde’s finishing numbers are actually pretty good!

His 0.15 goals per 90 off of 0.10 expected goals per 90 is great as a small sample - but he just isn’t getting enough shots to be considered a great finisher.

And some of those shots he’s taking are pretty yucky poo, just check out this shot chart from La Liga this season.

All in all though, he does usually show some composure when in good spots, I’d just like to see him do it more often.

It’s hard to expect Valverde to be getting into the box on the end of some passes when he’s often the one dribbling the ball into the box in the first place!

Still, I’d like to see him get some more shots - and from better range too.

If he can eventually become more of a goal threat too - then pack it up, he’s likely going to be one of the top five players on the planet.

Federico Valverde in The Hobby

Like I mentioned before, Valverde doesn’t get a lot of hobby love - as often the bigger named players that get the glory stats like goals and assists attract the higher prices.

But Valverde is bloody class - and could be an absolutely elite central mid for years to come.

There’s talk about Bayern Munich and Manchester United chasing Valverde - but I don’t think Real Madrid will be looking to sell, and the player seems keen to stay from what I’ve read.

He has rookie stickers from his days playing in Uruguay, and he even makes an appearance on a FIFA 365 Sticker in the 2015/16 season - I think over time the FIFA 365 has a chance to be seen as his most recognized rookie piece because there’s just more known about those than there are sets from Uruguay.

Still, you can’t really go wrong with either.

Your Next Step

I’ve realized I give three or four “next steps” and it’s way too many. So I’ll try only having one.

1. Take a screenshot of this article, post it to your Instagram story and tag me @soccercardsrock - I don’t usually do much of the self-promotion stuff. But it would be cool, and I just want to see how many people read this far down.