*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19:29, 10 March 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 02:00, 22 November 2023 (UTC)
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.[6][7][8] Valverde is of Spanish and Italian descent and became a naturalised Spanish citizen in 2020 after receiving his Spanish passport.[9] 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.[10]
Club career
Peñarol
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 where 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.[10][11]
In July 2016, Valverde was transferred from Peñarol to Real Madrid, initially being assigned to their reserve team Castilla.[15] Two months later, he made his debut for Castilla against Real Unión, in a game which his team eventually lost.[16] He became a regular member of the Castilla line-up his debut season, and scored his first goal against Albacete in December 2016.[17]
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."[18]
Loan to Deportivo La Coruña
On 22 June 2017, Valverde was loaned to La Liga side Deportivo de La Coruña for one year.[19] He made his debut in the competition on 10 September, replacing Fede Cartabia in a 2–4 home loss against Real Sociedad. Valverde contributed with 24 league appearances during the campaign, as the side suffered relegation.
Upon returning from loan, Valverde impressed new manager Julen Lopetegui during the 2018–19 pre-season and was definitively assigned to the first-team.[20] On 23 October 2018, Valverde made his official Real Madrid debut in the UEFA Champions League Group stage against Viktoria Plzeň at the Bernabéu at just 20 years old.[21][22] He made 25 appearances and won the FIFA Club World Cup in his first season with the first team.[23]
2019–present: First team breakthrough
With the return of Zinedine Zidane to the dugout and the departure of Marcos Llorente, Valverde broke through to become a key player of the squad during the 2019–20 season.[24] On 9 November 2019, he scored his first goal for Real Madrid, in a 4–0 away win over Eibar in La Liga.[25]
On 12 January 2020, Valverde tackled Álvaro Morata during the Supercopa de España Final against Atlético Madrid, committing a professional foul and stopping play with Morata clean through on goal.[26] Valverde was sent off, but his actions stopped what was a likely goal, forced a penalty shootout which Real Madrid won, and earned him the Man of The Match award and widespread praise. Atlético Madrid manager Diego Simeone later referred to the tackle as "the most important play of the game".[27] He made 33 appearances during the league season, as Real Madrid won the 2019–20 La Liga.[28]
On 27 September, Valverde scored Real Madrid's first goal of the 2020–21 season away to Betis in La Liga in an eventual 3–2 win and was selected as the 'King of The Match'.[29] This was also his 50th La Liga match for Los Blancos.[30] One month later on 24 October, Valverde scored against Barcelona at the Camp Nou in just five minutes in an eventual 3–1 league win. He became just the second Uruguayan to score in El Clásico (after Luis Suárez) and the first for Real Madrid.[31] One week later, Valverde scored again, against Huesca, in a 4–1 league win at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium. This was his third goal of the season, meaning he had already scored more than in the entirety of the previous campaign.[32]
On 24 August 2021, Valverde extended his contract until 2027.[33] On 12 January 2022, he scored Real Madrid's third goal in a 3–2 win over Barcelona in extra time of the Supercopa de España semi-final, a tournament which Madrid eventually went on to win.[34] On 28 May, he assisted Vinícius Júnior to score the winning goal in a 1–0 win over Liverpool in the 2022 UEFA Champions League Final to clinch a record 14th UEFA Champions League title for Real Madrid.[35]
On 14 September 2022, he scored his first Champions League goal in a 2–0 victory over RB Leipzig.[36]
On 8 April 2023, he allegedly punched Villarreal's player Álex Baena at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium parking lot following a 3–2 defeat in La Liga, which was presumably caused by a comment Baena made to Valverde about an unborn baby his wife, Mina Bonino, was carrying; a few weeks earlier, the couple experienced a miscarriage scare after it was rumoured Bonino was suffering serious problems with the pregnancy. Later that year, on 3 July, the case against Valverde was dismissed as a magistrates' court found no evidence of criminality.[37][38][39]
On 9 November 2023, Valverde extended his contract with Real Madrid until 30 June 2029.[40][41]
In 2017, Valverde was caught up in a controversial gesture after making a "slant eyes" celebration after scoring in the Under-20 World Cup. Valverde denied that the celebration was racist but stated that it was in homage to his first agent, Edgardo "El Chino" Lasalvia. FIFA called on Uruguay to explain Valverde's actions, as well as a celebratory photo of the squad in which several Celeste players made the same gestures.[43][44]
He was called up to the senior squad for the first time in August 2017,[45] debuted with the Uruguay national team on 5 September of that year,[46] and scored his first international goal with the senior team in a match against Paraguay. He was named in Uruguay's provisional 26-man pool for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but he was left out of the final 23-man squad.[47]
Valverde was included by manager Óscar Tabárez in the final 23-man Uruguay squad for the 2019 Copa América in Brazil.[48] In the quarter-finals against Peru on 29 June, a 0–0 draw after regulation time had the match go to a penalty shoot-out; Uruguay lost the shoot-out 4–5 and was eliminated from the competition.[49]
Valverde is in a relationship with Argentinian journalist and presenter Mina Bonino. They have two sons, Benicio, born in 2020, and Bautista, born in 2023.[52][53] Valverde's previous nickname was Pajarito (baby bird), but now refers to himself as Halcón (falcon), alluding to his growth as a professional footballer. "Everyone joined the Halcón thing, and I liked it, it was very funny to me. There were people who got angry because they wanted to keep calling me Pajarito, but I'm the Halcón now," said Valverde in an interview.[54]
^Rodríguez, José María (22 December 2018). "El Madrid agranda su leyenda" [Madrid largen their legend]. Marca (in Spanish). Spain. Archived from the original on 8 October 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
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