Quick Read
- Enrique Riquelme claimed he would sign Erling Haaland if elected Real Madrid president.
- Manchester City denied the claims, stating no such contractual release clause exists.
- City is now considering legal action against Riquelme for the unauthorized use of their player’s image.
- Haaland’s representatives officially dismissed the claims as false.
Legal Escalation in Madrid Elections
Manchester City has formally threatened legal action against Enrique Riquelme, a candidate for the Real Madrid presidency, following his public assertion that he would secure the signing of striker Erling Haaland if elected. During a live appearance on the Spanish television program El Hormiguero, Riquelme displayed a Real Madrid jersey bearing Haaland’s name and claimed the existence of a release clause in the Norwegian forward’s contract.
The Premier League champions issued a swift rebuttal on Thursday, stating: “The stories which have emerged from Spain regarding the future of Erling Haaland are untrue. There is no chance of this happening and there is no contractual clause to enable it. We are considering legal action for the use of our player image in this context.”
Haaland’s camp also moved to distance themselves from the controversy. A joint statement from his father, Alfie Haaland, and his agent, Rafaela Pimenta, dismissed the claims as “all very entertaining but not true.”
The Politics of ‘Galactico’ Promises
Riquelme’s stunt is a calculated move in a high-stakes campaign against long-serving incumbent Florentino Pérez. The 37-year-old entrepreneur has attempted to mirror the historical success of Pérez’s own 2000 campaign, where the current president famously leveraged the potential signing of Luís Figo to sway voters. Riquelme has gone as far as signing a notarized guarantee to pay the membership fees of all 100,000 Real Madrid members next season should he fail to deliver on his transfer promises.
However, the strategy carries significant risk. While such theatrical promises are a recognized feature of club-member elections in Spain—where Barcelona’s Joan Laporta similarly navigated transfer rumors during his own campaign—Riquelme’s direct use of a contracted player’s image has triggered an unprecedented legal threat from Manchester City. The incident underscores the growing tension between electoral grandstanding and the professional realities of modern football contracts.
As the Sunday election approaches, the incident serves as a reminder of the volatility inherent in member-owned club governance. With Pérez leaning on his record of six Champions League titles and the promise of a return for Jose Mourinho, Riquelme’s aggressive tactics highlight the pressure on challengers to disrupt the status quo at the Santiago Bernabéu.