Aged 19 and scoring the goal that may just have seen his country qualify for next summer’s World Cup finals, life is good for Uruguayan midfielder Federico Valverde. On target in his countries decisive 2-1 win over Paraguay, the youngster, who was born in 1998, loks to have the world at his feet.
 

Born in the country’s capital Montevideo, Valverde grew up in the youth system at Penarol and in 2015, he exploded onto the scene when he starred for his country in the South American Under-17 championships. The eyes of Europe were on him with Premier League side Arsenal the first to make a move.

The Gunners were ready to offer €4M to Penarol to take the player to London but then came a counter-offer from Real Madrid whose €5M proposal was accepted and the youngster headed to the Spanish capital.

Immediately inserted into the clubs “B” team to get him used to the rigours of Spanish football, Los Blancos sent him out on-loan this summer to Deportivo La Coruna in what could be the final stage of his development.
 

A box to box midfielder, Valverde has been compared to Croatian legend Luka Modric despite the player topping out at a height of 180cm. Having grown up as an attacking midfielder, his powerful presence has seen a shift to more defensive minded duties and having already declared his admiration for former Liverpool and England star Steven Gerrard, Valverde is set to become a future Galactico in the Spanish capital.