Federico Valverde

Federico Santiago Valverde Dipetta (Spanish pronunciation: [feðeˈɾiko βalˈβeɾðe]; born 22 July 1998) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid and the Uruguay national team. Considered one of the best midfielders in the world, he mainly plays as a central midfielder but is also able to play as a defensive midfielder and occasionally a right-back.

Valverde began his professional career with Peñarol in 2015, winning the Uruguayan Primera División in his first season. In 2016, he joined Real Madrid, initially playing for the club's reserve team. He made his first-team debut in 2017 and has since gone on to make over 300 appearances for the club, winning three La Liga titles, two FIFA Club World Cups, two UEFA Champions League titles, two UEFA Super Cups, and the Copa del Rey.

Valverde made his international debut for Uruguay in 2017, and has since represented his country at three Copa América tournaments (2019, 2021, 2024) and the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Valverde was born on 22 July 1998 in Unión, a neighbourhood in the capital city of Montevideo, to Julio Valverde and Doris Dipetta. He has one older brother, Diego, and two step-brothers, Pablo and Matías Castro. Valverde is of Spanish and Italian descent and became a naturalised Spanish citizen in 2020 after receiving his Spanish passport. Valverde started his youth career with his local neighbourhood club, Estudiantes de la Unión. He then tried out for Peñarol a few years later and was scouted by Néstor Gonçalves.

Valverde spent most of his youth career with Peñarol, where he quickly made an impression. He made his club debut on 23 July, one day after his 17th birthday, in an international friendly against Cruzeiro which they won 3–1. He had then his senior debut for the club on 16 August 2015 in their first fixture of the 2015–16 season against Cerro, during which he was guided and mentored by his childhood idol and teammate, Diego Forlán.

He became part of the Uruguayan national youth teams and attracted the interest of European clubs, including Arsenal, Barcelona, Chelsea and Real Madrid.

In July 2016, Valverde was transferred from Peñarol to Real Madrid, initially being assigned to their reserve team Castilla. Two months later, he made his debut for Castilla against Real Unión, in a game which his team eventually lost. He became a regular member of the Castilla line-up his debut season, and scored his first goal against Albacete in December 2016.

In regards to his growing importance to the team, Santiago Solari, his coach at Castilla, said on 29 January 2017, "I'm very happy with him. He has adapted very well to the club and country. Valverde always generates a lot of football in midfield."