‘I Felt Like a Hostage When on Trial at Arsenal

Federico Valverde is one of Real Madrid’s most important players and will be hoping to clinch a third Champions League title with Los Blancos this season.

The 26-year-old has already achieved so much in a relatively short career since signing for the Spanish giants as a teenager after first bursting onto the scene at Penarol in his native Uruguay. But it all could have been very different.

Growing up in a family of ‘hustlers’ as Valverde likes to call it, the now-26-year-old spoke of his childhood in a sit-down piece with The Players’ Tribune in 2023, and briefly discussed how he had a trial with Premier League giants Arsenal as a youngster, but felt like a ‘hostage’ during that period of his life and ultimately decided to return to South America.

Ironically, it’s now the Gunners who stand in Valverde’s way of winning back-to-back Champions League titles with Real Madrid. Arsenal host the reigning European champions in the first leg of the quarter-finals, before traveling to the Bernabeu for the reverse leg the following week.

It’s a huge few weeks for Real Madrid, who find themselves four points behind Barcelona in La Liga, booked in for an El Clasico final in April’s Copa del Rey conclusion, and taking on one of the most defensively resilient sides in Europe to cling onto their Champions League crown.

Valverde will play a prominent role as one of Real Madrid’s most valuable and versatile players. But it’s entirely possible, had things panned out differently, that he could be representing the opposition in the quarter-final fixture this month.

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The Beginning Wasn’t So Easy

Valverde had to overcome hardship early on in his life

In his earlier years, Valverde felt the wrath of what comes along with playing football, even at grassroots level, with him admitting that he felt embarrassed at the prospect of his teammates coming over to his house because his family only had the three free-to-air TV channels.

That, combined with him constituting a bed as a mattress on the floor in a corner of a dark room which had springs that would trap him to the point of needing to call for help to get up, and hearing cockroaches crawl around the room in the dead of night, makes for horror movie-esque imagery.

But, he would use those emotions around his home circumstances as fuel for when he stepped onto the field, with the ultimate goal of wanting to change his family’s fortunes forever.

As can often happen when undergoing any significant change in circumstances, though, turning professional for Valverde also changed his personality, with him even admitting that he felt that he “was a God” after he signed his first professional contract.

But before he made the move from Uruguayan outfit Peñarol, based in his hometown of Montevideo, to Real Madrid, Valverde attracted interest from a plethora of top European clubs, including Arsenal.

What Could Have Been

Valverde trialled with Arsenal at age 16 but felt uncomfortable in England

It is no secret that Valverde was sent to trial at Arsenal when he was 16-years-old. Despite the club’s prestige and rich history, North London was worlds apart from what he was used to growing up in Uruguay, and England was never where he really wanted to be.

His reasoning for this doesn’t have to do with the Gunners itself, more the outside pressure from the business-side of professional sport, with those around him trying to get inside his head about what life could be like for him if he were to make the 15-plus hour flight over to the United Kingdom to kick-start his career. Valverde explained that he felt like a “hostage” at that point in his life, due to the way certain individuals wanted to force him into financially beneficial decisions, regardless of how he felt.

In the end, all it took was one week for him to be convinced that he didn’t want to play for the club because of how much he’d miss his family. But, then Real Madrid came calling, and they were willing to relocate his family too, and it was a meeting which would ultimately signal the beginning of fulfilling a lifelong dream for young Fede, with nobody then knowing how it would alter the trajectory of his career, and his life as he knew it.

Move to Madrid and Breakout 2023–24 Season

Valverde earned his first 30-man shortlist nomination for the Ballon d’Or

Valverde would dub that day in 2016 when he got the chance to move to Madrid as “perfect”, and he hasn’t looked back.

He had to earn his move to the first team, having started out with Real Madrid Castilla, and became a regular feature for the side within just a few months, which saw him sent out on loan to Deportivo La Coruna for the 2017-18 season.

Upon his return, he impressed so much during the 2018-19 pre-season that it was a no-brainer that he should be moved to Los Blancos’ first team, making his official debut for the side in the UEFA Champions League group stages in a match against Viktoria Plzen at the Bernabeu.

During the 2023-24 campaign, though, Valverde really began to shine under the brightest lights of them all.

Making 54 appearances in all competitions last season, Valverde had one of the best seasons of his professional career, in which he recorded three goals and eight assists, mostly coming from central midfield, though he also played as a right midfielder, right-winger and even a defensive midfielder, further showcasing his positional versatility.

With Madrid, he heavily contributed to their plethora of team success, in which they pipped Barcelona to the La Liga title by 10 points, won the Spanish League Cup, and then the UEFA Champions League – Valverde’s second UCL title of his career. They would also go on to win the UEFA Super Cup ahead of this season, capping off a 2023-24 campaign to remember for the Uruguayan, which saw him sign an extension to stay with the club through 2029.

But there were even greater accomplishments for Valverde, including a nomination on the 30-man shortlist for the greatest footballing individual award of them all – the Ballon d’Or.

Valverde’s 2024-25 So Far

A valuable player for Carlo Ancelotti

Valverde’s versatility has been a defining feature of his impact at Real Madrid this season. While he’s been a little less involved in goal creation and scoring than in previous seasons, he’s played in deeper positions, including defensive midfield and even right-back.

The South American has missed just 21 minutes of Real Madrid’s Champions League campaign so far this season, making twelve appearances and finding three assists, so looks likely to be included from the off against Arsenal once again.

His hardworking style is crucial to balancing out more flamboyant players like Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe, while Valverde himself can also make crucial contributions in attack.

All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt, FBRef and WhoScored.com.

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