Real Madrid Now Has World's Most Expensive Midfielder

Forbes

4 days ago

Spanish soccer giant Real Madrid boasts the world's most expensive midfielder according to expert ... More site Transfermarkt, as highlighted by AS.
Spanish soccer giant Real Madrid boasts the world's most expensive midfielder according to expert site Transfermarkt, as highlighted by local newspaper AS.
The Madrid-based outlet ran a report on the Uruguayan entitled 'Valverde, a new dimension', which details how with veterans Luka Modric and Lucas Vazquez set to leave Madrid after the Club World Cup, Federico Valverde will only have Dani Carvajal ahead of him in the pecking order of first team captains.
About to enter his eighth season in Los Blancos colors, Valverde is an undisputed starter likely to enjoy such prominence under Carlo Ancelotti's successor Xabi Alonso.
He was the only player on the Italian's watch to exceed 5,000 minutes (5,029 to be exact) in playing time across 59 games in 2024/2025, which saw him finish way ahead of teammates such as Kylian Mbappe (4,607 minutes) and Jude Bellingham (4,346 minutes) in that respect.
That was a season where we saw Valverde act as a Swiss army knife for his coach and play a number of positions for the Italian including pivot, midfielder, right back and right winger.
With Trent-Alexander Arnold completing his long-awaited transfer from Liverpool before the weekend, its likely he'll no longer be required at right back and can perhaps concentrate on holding the fort but also getting forward in the centre of the park.
Despite his more retreated position on occasion, Valverde was his team's leader with the most completed passes (3,122), passes to the final third (1,070) and interceptions (70).
He was also second in tackles (95) and recoveries (257), third in robbing the ball in the final third of the pitch (24), fourth in blocks (15), fifth in shots (85) and sixth in shots on goal (29) while amassing nine goals and eight assists.
This has contributed to a figure that AS says it 'everywhere all at once', and Valverde is expected to be a crucial to Alonso in 2025/2026 where the main mission will be
With all this in mind, Real Madrid now boasts the world's most expensive midfielder in Valverde. Eighth overall on its list of the priciest footballers in the sport, he has since his value rise from $5.7 million (€5 million) to $148.4 million (€130 million).