Carlo Ancelotti had plenty of praise for Fede Valverde, just two weeks after Liverpool’s reported £86m bid. Real Madrid weren’t up for selling.
Real Madrid beat RB Leipzig 2-1 this week thanks to goals from Fede Valverde and Marco Asensio. Funnily enough, both players have been linked with interest from Liverpool in 2022.
It was Valverde who really caught the eye, though. He lined up on the right-hand side and scored Real’s opening goal on 80 minutes.
His performance was enough to earn serious praise from his manager, Carlo Ancelotti. The Italian clearly rates his player incredibly highly.
“What was strange last year was that he only scored one goal, in the Super Cup I think,” said Ancelotti. “If you can’t get a player like that to score at least 10 goals in a season then you should rip up your coaching badge and retire.
“Because he has a rock of a foot. Tonight he took the shot with his left foot. I’ve never seen him shoot like that with his left, so it shows he’s confident in his abilities, and he has a lot of abilities.
He’s more than just energy. But, to say he’s best in the world in his position, we might have to wait a little longer.”
Liverpool’s failed Valverde bid
AS reported this week that Liverpool had grand plans of signing Valverde on transfer deadline day. The Reds were in the market for a midfielder after Jordan Henderson joined Thiago, Naby Keita, Curtis Jones and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on the injury list.
The Reds appeared to go big with their bid, too – €100m or £86m. That would have been a record signing, though we doubt any offer was made guaranteed in full.
As we wrote after that report, we’re taking the report with a pinch of salt. That’s an awful lot of money to spend on a whim but we don’t doubt that Liverpool would love to have Valverde. It might even be one to revisit in 2023, should Real Madrid win the inevitable race for Jude Bellingham.
For now, though, it doesn’t sound like anyone is easily prying Valverde away from Carlo Ancelotti. The 24-year-old is a special player and one who continues to contribute for Real.
