Luis Suarez is enjoying himself back in his native Uruguay, where he has directly contributed to 7 goals in 8 matches for Nacional. There is little denial that all eyes are focused on the World Cup in Uruguay though and in a recent interview with Marca, Suarez spoke of perhaps their most key player ahead of the tournament.
In a long-form interview, Suarez was naturally asked about Real Madrid’s Fede Valverde. The Uruguayan midfielder has been something of a revelation at the start of the season in Spain. Despite contributing heavily last campaign, he has scored or assisted 4 times in Real Madrid’s last four games, lessening the impact of an injury to Karim Benzema.
Suarez is reminded of a former Liverpool teammate when he watches him.
“I honestly, and there it is in the archives, already in 2017 when Fede debuted in the national team, I already said that he reminded me of Steven Gerrard, who was a teammate of mine at Liverpool.”
“He has similar abilities. A box-to-box player, with punch, who can change the rhythm, who arrives well… I don’t want to compare, but the characteristics are similar. Fede I saw coming and he has made a barbaric progression, surrounded by great stars. It has served him well.”
Both certainly have the capacity to change a game and increasingly, Valverde is becoming a threat in the final third. At this point most would probably argue that Gerrard was superior technically, but there are, as Suarez says, similarities.
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