Manchester City Consider Legal Action Over Haaland Claims

Manchester City are weighing up legal action after a Real Madrid presidential candidate publicly vowed to sign Erling Haaland and even held up a Madrid shirt with the striker’s name on it.

Enrique Riquelme, a 37-year-old renewable energy tycoon bidding to unseat Florentino Perez, made the bold promise live on television on Wednesday, declaring: “He has a release clause and would like to join Real Madrid. If I become president, he will play for Real Madrid.”

The response from Haaland’s camp and from City was immediate and uncompromising.

A joint statement from Haaland’s father and agent flatly rejected the claim, and City then moved to shut the story down in even stronger terms.

“The stories which have emerged from Spain regarding the future of Erling Haaland are untrue,” the statement read. “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.”

The image in question was the Madrid shirt emblazoned with “Haaland” that Riquelme produced as part of his campaign pitch, a stunt that has now dragged the Premier League champions into the middle of Real Madrid’s most volatile election battle in two decades.

Haaland was not the only City star used as political capital. Riquelme also pledged to sign Rodri, openly talking up a move for the midfielder.

“He is a great player, in a position where Madrid need to strengthen,” Riquelme said. “We have spoken to his agent. We have to respect his club, but if I'm president he will play for Madrid. I will do everything possible.”

Those comments, combined with the Haaland shirt reveal, have turned a domestic power struggle in Spain into a cross-border flashpoint. City are determined to protect their players and their image rights; Riquelme is determined to convince nearly 100,000 eligible socios that he can deliver a new era.

The stakes in this election are already unusually high. For the first time in 20 years, Perez does not stand unopposed. The vote, called by Perez himself for Sunday, 7 June, comes after two seasons without a major trophy and growing unrest at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Riquelme has sensed an opening and built his campaign around grand promises and sharp contrasts.

He has pledged vast giveaways, including a “members’ city” for fans around the club’s training base, and a cut of up to 50% in annual membership fees if Madrid fail to win the Champions League next season. It is an aggressive, populist platform aimed at a fanbase that has grown impatient with empty seasons and expensive projects.

He has also gone directly against one of Perez’s cornerstone decisions: the move to bring Jose Mourinho back to the Bernabeu. Mourinho’s appointment can only be formally ratified if Perez wins the election, and Riquelme has made it clear he wants a different face in the dugout.

His preferred profile? Jurgen Klopp.

Riquelme and his campaign team have repeatedly hinted that the former Liverpool manager is their primary target. Speaking to The Athletic last month, Riquelme said: “Naturally, I would love for profiles of that calibre, and others like them, to coach this club.”

It is a tantalising vision for Madrid fans disillusioned by recent seasons: Haaland up front, Rodri anchoring midfield, Klopp on the touchline, a rebuilt Bernabeu atmosphere and cheaper membership fees to boot.

But those promises now collide with the hard realities of contracts, release clauses and image rights. City have been categorical: there is no clause that allows Haaland to walk to Madrid, and there is “no chance” of the scenario Riquelme painted. Any suggestion otherwise, they insist, crosses a legal line.

Just as the presidential race threatened to drift into familiar territory – banners, slogans, big names floated as fantasies – Riquelme’s gambit has forced Europe’s champions to push back in public.

On Sunday, Madrid’s members will decide whether they want four more years of Perez or a radical break under Riquelme. Between now and then, one question will hang over the Bernabeu and beyond: is this election about Real Madrid’s future, or about who dares most loudly to claim other clubs’ stars as their own?