Manchester City Consider Legal Action Over Haaland Claims in Madrid Election

Manchester City are weighing up legal action after Real Madrid presidential candidate Enrique Riquelme thrust Erling Haaland into the centre of Spain’s election circus – and did it with a Madrid shirt bearing the striker’s name live on television.

The Spanish businessman, who will go head to head with Florentino Pérez in Sunday’s vote, used a prime-time appearance on El Hormiguero to claim that Haaland not only wants to join Madrid, but has a contract clause that would let it happen if Riquelme takes power.

“Haaland has a release clause and he wants to come to Madrid,” Riquelme declared, holding up the shirt as a campaign prop rather than a subtle hint. He went further, promising that Rodri would also be prised away from City and dropped straight into the heart of the 15-times European champions’ midfield.

For City, it was a line crossed.

The Premier League club hit back on Thursday with a sharp, unequivocal statement. “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.”

No soft edges. No room for interpretation. Just a flat denial and a legal threat.

Haaland, who signed a record nine-and-a-half-year deal in January 2025, has been central to City’s long-term planning. Any suggestion of a release clause in that contract touches a nerve at the Etihad, especially when paraded on Spanish television as political capital in another club’s election.

The player’s camp quickly backed City’s stance. His father, Alfie Haaland, and agent, Rafaela Pimenta, dismissed Riquelme’s claims with a short, pointed response. “All very entertaining but not true,” they said. “We wish all the best for both candidates in the Real Madrid elections.”

So the story that was meant to fuel a presidential campaign instead united club and representatives in rebuttal.

Riquelme did not stop at Haaland. He used Rodri as his second flagship promise, openly targeting the midfielder who has been the metronome of City’s dominance under Pep Guardiola.

“He’s a top player, a Ballon d’Or winner in a position where Madrid needs to strengthen. If I become president, Rodri will play for Real Madrid, with all due respect to City,” Riquelme said.

He then tried to give those words weight with an extraordinary pledge. Acknowledging he lacks Pérez’s track record, he vowed to personally guarantee his transfer promises. “I don’t have the track record of Florentino – I’ve never been president. That’s why I’m committing myself to the two players I’ve announced, backed by a personal notarised guarantee. If I fail to deliver, I will pay 100% of the annual dues of Madrid’s 100,000 members.”

It is headline-grabbing politics: names, guarantees, and the implicit suggestion that Madrid’s next era rests on raiding the champions of England.

City, meanwhile, are bracing for a period of uncertainty of their own. Guardiola’s departure after a decade of staggering success inevitably forces key players to reflect on their futures. Rodri, whose contract runs out next summer, hinted at that delicate balance earlier in the week.

“I’m very calm, I know exactly where I stand, and I’ll tell you that perhaps if there hadn’t been a World Cup, things might be different,” the 29-year-old said on Monday.

A cool answer on the surface, but one that acknowledges shifting ground.

While their stars are being used as campaign material in Madrid, City’s recruitment machine keeps moving.

An initial bid for Elliot Anderson has been knocked back by Nottingham Forest. City’s sporting director, Hugo Viana, is expected to return with an improved offer, but Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is thought to want around £100m – the same figure City paid Aston Villa for Jack Grealish in August 2021 and a potential record fee for the club.

That price tag reflects Anderson’s rapid rise. At 23, he is in line to start for England in their opening World Cup match against Croatia on 17 June, a stage that could either justify Forest’s valuation or drive it even higher.

So City find themselves in a familiar modern reality: fending off public pitches for their biggest names while trying to outmuscle rivals for the next wave of talent. The legal letters may soon fly over Haaland’s image rights, Madrid’s election drama will play out under the Bernabéu’s lights, and Rodri’s future will remain a talking point.

What City do in the transfer market – and how hard they fight to protect the pillars of their project – will show exactly how they plan to live in a post-Guardiola world.