This race for the Real Madrid presidency has reached levels I never thought it would. But before attacking certain people, we need to understand what is actually happening.
Florentino Pérez opened the door to challengers for the Real Madrid presidency, and the direct candidate is Enrique Riquelme, who is trying, in some way, to win, but it already feels like an uphill battle. As a result, and because it has become the trend, certain names are already being reported as “done deals” if Florentino wins: Dumfries, Konaté and manager José Mourinho. In other words, they will only officially become part of Real Madrid if Florentino wins the election.
On the other side, Riquelme tried to do the same, but I think he raised the bar too high, to the point where nobody really believes it. I am not going to call anyone a liar, because there is an interesting point here, but it is, at the very least, highly unlikely.
Riquelme said that if he were elected, he would sign Haaland and Rodri. And the debate here is mainly about Haaland, because Rodri has already shown interest in joining Real Madrid in previous seasons. First of all, it feels contradictory to try to solve a problem that Riquelme himself points out, an excess of stars, by bringing in even more stars with even bigger egos. Then comes the controversy: it was reported that Haaland’s father and the club denied the information, saying it was false and that Haaland would not be joining Real Madrid.
The point here is simple: even if conversations had taken place, for example between Haaland’s father and Riquelme, that could never be publicly acknowledged. I even have the slight impression that the Figo case was similar: Florentino said he would sign him, Figo denied it, but in reality there had already been contact behind the scenes. Because nobody exposes themselves to that level of ridicule without having at least some foundation behind it.
The difference between these elections and those of the past is clear: nowadays journalism knows far more. Top journalists have access to enormous amounts of information and, in Florentino’s case, it seems almost certain that if he wins, those three figures will join the club. In Riquelme’s case, that same level of credibility simply does not exist.
Conclusion
Even if it were true, Haaland’s father would never admit it, and Manchester City would probably not even be aware of anything at that stage. This could even create legal issues for Riquelme. In the end, he aimed too high and failed to generate enough confidence to support those promises. There may be some truth behind it, but everything points towards Florentino winning comfortably, while Riquelme simply took too big a gamble.