Federico Valverde reveals that he decided to join the Premier League club but was rejected

Federico Valverde has revealed that he decided to sign for a Premier League club before signing for Real Madrid.

However, the midfielder was rejected after spending time on trial in England.

At 16, Valverde trained with Arsenal at its London Colney base.

He was still part of the academy at his boyhood club Peñarol in Uruguay, but dreamed of joining the Gunners after his time at the club.

Valverde said brand: “I was 16 years old. I said: 'That's it. This is my club. I'm going to grow here.'

“In Uruguay the Premier League was watched a lot. I imagined the future there.

“I enjoyed it and trained with spectacular players.

“I don't know if he remembers me, but Dibu (Emi Martínez) was one of the ones who helped me the most in everything, along with (Héctor) Bellerín, Alexis (Sánchez) and (Santi) Cazorla.

“I didn't know English and they had to explain all the work to me.”

However, then manager Arsene Wenger would pass up the opportunity to sign the teenager.

Valverde joined real Madrid two years later, when he was 18 years old.

During the same transfer window, Wenger swooped in to add Granite Xhaka to their midfield at the Emirates Stadium.

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Meanwhile, Valverde was in the white reserve team and on loan in the Deportivo La Coruña before breaking into the first team.

Since then, he has made 275 appearances for the Spanish giants during eight years in Madrid.

In those games, the Uruguayan scored 24 goals and gave 25 more assists.

Valverde has also won 13 major trophies with the club, including two Champions Leagues, two Club World Cups and three La Liga titles.

At the international level, he has seven goals in 66 international matches with Uruguay, he was even captain of La Celeste in the 2022 World Cup.