The war of words between Real Madrid presidential candidate Enrique Riquelme and Manchester City has taken a new turn as the Premier League club threatens to take legal action.
Manchester City forward Erling Haaland has been linked with a move to Real Madrid (Image: Getty Images)
Real Madrid presidential candidate Enrique Riquelme considers Manchester City’s reaction after making a bold promise to sign Erling Haaland this summer as “normal”.
Los Blancos are holding an election to elect a new president, with club members set to vote in a special vote on Sunday between long-time ruler Florentino Perez, 79, and Riquelme, 37.
In the run-up to the vote, Riquelme promised to secure an agreement for Haaland, 25, to be elected as the next president, insisting the transfer had been agreed with both the player and his agent.
“We have signed a guarantee that if we break our commitments regarding any of these players, we will pay 100 percent of next season’s dues,” Riquelme said. “Haaland has a release clause in his contract and wants to go to Madrid.”
In response to Riquelme’s comments, City hit back at the Spaniard and said the story was not true. He added that legal action was being considered for Haaland’s use to help Riquelme win the election.
A City spokesperson said in a statement: “The stories coming out of Spain about Erling Haaland’s future are false. There is no chance of this happening and there is no contractual clause that would allow it to happen. We are considering legal action against the use of the player’s image in this context.”
Now, despite the club threatening to take legal action against Riquelme, Riquelme has reacted to City’s statement and believes it is a logical response.
“This is normal, this is an election, there are two candidates but there is no guarantee that anyone will win and they have to protect the players,” Riquelme said in an interview with TVE.
Erling Haaland is rumored to be moving to Real Madrid (Image: Getty Images)
Riquelme is expected to hold formal talks with Haaland’s agent and City next week if he is announced as Real’s new president. “We’re going to start talking and sit down and talk to them starting Monday,” he added.
Following Riquelme’s plea for a Norwegian contract, Riquelme’s agent Raffaella Pimenta and his father Alfie Haaland issued a joint statement saying: “All of this is very interesting, but not true. We wish both candidates the best of luck in the Madrid elections.”
Haaland now has his focus firmly on this summer’s World Cup with Norway. The former Borussia Dortmund forward is expected to feature for Staare Solbakken’s side in North America.
Norway will play Iraq in their first Group I game of the competition on Tuesday 16 June, followed by Senegal on Tuesday 23 June and France three days later.
After the World Cup in Norway, Haaland will take some time off before returning to City for pre-season. He underlined his commitment to City by signing a new nine-and-a-half year contract in January 2025.
Haaland joined the club from Dortmund in 2022 and won the Champions League during his time there. Since then, he has gone on to score an impressive 162 goals and won the Golden Boot award three times.
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive Mirror Football content every day. Community members also receive special offers, promotions, and advertisements from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can always check out. If you are interested, please read our privacy notice.
Sky Sports, HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+ and Ultimate TV packages
Sky has upgraded its Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundles to include HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu, plus 135 channels and complete coverage of the Premier League and EFL from Sky.
Sky has over 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more, with at least 215 of them live from the top flight, along with F1, darts and golf.
