Liverpool were linked with a move for Real Madrid star Federico Valverde this summer, and a new update has given Reds fans hope of one day luring the midfielder to the Premier League.

Where did Real Madrid find Federico Valverde?

Back in 2016, Real Madrid signed Valverde from boyhood team Penarol in Montevideo. Having been promoted from the youth set-up to the first team two years later, as per Transfermarkt, he’s since gone on to make a total of 208 senior appearances in the Spanish capital.

Carlo Ancelotti’s central midfielder still has another four years remaining on his contract at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, but that doesn’t seem to have stopped FSG and Jurgen Klopp from highlighting him as a potential candidate to bring to Merseyside.

The Secret Scout reported that the Reds submitted an enquiry for the 25-year-old last month alongside his teammate Aurelien Tchouameni, having failed to secure the services of Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia who both ended up joining Chelsea, and it wasn’t long before they took their initial interest one step further.

Spanish outlets claimed that FSG then tabled a €60m (£51.8m) offer for the Uruguay international, and whilst a deal failed to come to fruition before September 1st, it sounds like there is reason to believe something could happen in the future.

Are Liverpool signing Federico Valverde?

According to reports in Spain (via Football365), Valverde “half regrets having made this decision” to stay at Real Madrid and believes that the best thing he could have done would have been to have “packed his bags”.

The La Liga star has a “feeling of being secondary” and knows that he “needs more prominence” after saying “no” to joining Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United over the summer.

The Los Blancos veteran has “already noticed” that he won’t be a regular starter this season, so there’s a possibility that he could look to seal an exit in January.

How many goals has Federico Valverde scored?

In La Liga during the 2022/23 campaign, Valverde posted 11 contributions (seven goals and four assists) in 34 games which is an impressive return for a central midfielder, form which has seen labelled a “monster” by football talent scout Jacek Kulig.

The Montevideo native has also recorded 11 shots so far this season which is the second-highest total throughout his squad, via FBRef, not to mention that he’s extremely calm and composed on the ball averaging a 90.7% pass success rate.

Furthermore, Madrid’s £133k-per-week earner, who has the versatility to operate in eight different positions over the midfield and attack, will know what it takes to compete and be successful having secured ten pieces of silverware since the start of his career, so he will possess the same winning mentality of the current squad who are already at Kirkby.

Finally, Valverde shares the same agent, Wasserman, as both Joe Gomez and Curtis Jones, so should the hierarchy attempt to make a second move for their target in the new year, the existing connection that his representative already has to the club could give them a small advantage in getting a deal over the line in 2024.