Player Development
Progress: Average/Moderate
It is tough to say whether or not Valverde will have a successful season when it comes to player development and progress. Player development can be interpreted as being subjective as well as objective. Objectively speaking, player development means an obvious improvement in a player’s technical or physical ability, may it be a single player or even a group.
Valverde has a responsibility to ensure that La Masia does not slowly fade away into redundancy as it did under Enrique. A steady stream of players must come from the youth academy. This ensures that the players learn to play the way the senior team does from a young age. This makes the job easier for the manager. It will help if he gains a group of players not only willing to play how he wants them to but also capable of doing so. As Valverde is largely unfamiliar with large-scale youth academies. Having worked with relatively smaller clubs, his performance on this end may not be great in the first season and that is understandable.
The second type of player development is the sort that deals with developing individual skills of players , mostly in the senior team. Valverde could perform better in this area, due to prior experience. He must assist players such as Denis Suarez, Andre Gomes, Arda Turan, and Paco Alcacer in improving their game and playing style.
Overall, Valverde may have a rather satisfying first season, both for the club management and the fans. In the end, that is all the fans can ask for. A successful season can help relieve the stress from the struggle that was the 2017 campaign.