Manchester City Threatens Legal Action Over Haaland and Rodri Comments

Manchester City have gone on the offensive after a Real Madrid presidential candidate publicly promised to sign Erling Haaland and Rodri, even brandishing a Madrid shirt with Haaland’s name on it live on television.

Enrique Riquelme, a 37-year-old renewable energy magnate bidding to unseat Florentino Perez, stunned viewers on Wednesday when he held up the customised shirt and declared: “He has a release clause and would like to join Real Madrid. If I become president, he will play for Real Madrid.”

That was the spark. The response was immediate.

Haaland’s camp – his father and his agent – issued a joint denial, and City quickly followed, dismissing the claims in uncompromising terms.

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

From campaign stunt to potential courtroom battle in a matter of hours.

Riquelme did not stop at Haaland. He went further, openly targeting City’s midfield fulcrum Rodri as part of his election pitch to Madrid’s socios.

“He is a great player, in a position where Madrid need to strengthen,” Riquelme said, before adding that he had already spoken to Rodri’s representatives. “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.”

The comments cut straight to the heart of the tension around this election. For the first time in two decades, Perez faces a genuine challenger, and it comes after two seasons without a major trophy at the Bernabeu. Riquelme has chosen to campaign with grand gestures and even grander promises.

His platform has been built on giveaways and spectacle: a proposed “members’ city” for Real Madrid fans around the club’s training base, and a pledge to slash annual membership fees by up to 50% if the team fail to win the Champions League next season. It is football politics with a populist edge, framed around frustration in the stands and unrest over results.

He has also gone head‑to‑head with Perez on the club’s most sensitive decision of the summer: the bench. Perez has moved to bring Jose Mourinho back to Madrid, a move that can only be ratified if he wins the election. Riquelme has positioned himself firmly against that appointment and has pointed instead towards Jurgen Klopp as the dream alternative.

Riquelme and his campaign team have hinted that the former Liverpool manager is their primary target, a symbol of a different sporting project and a different style. Speaking to The Athletic last month, Riquelme stopped short of a direct promise but made his admiration clear: “Naturally, I would love for profiles of that calibre, and others like them, to coach this club.”

The stakes, then, are obvious. Just under 100,000 club members will be eligible to vote on Sunday, 7 June, in an election called by Perez himself as he seeks a renewed mandate after a turbulent spell on and off the pitch.

Perez remains the overwhelming favourite. His record, his power base and his control of the club’s machinery are formidable. Yet the mere fact he is being challenged at all, after 20 years of uncontested rule, hints at a shift in the mood around the Bernabeu.

Now the campaign has spilled beyond Spain’s borders and into Manchester, dragging two of City’s most prized assets into the crossfire. Haaland and Rodri have become symbols in a political contest that stretches from the boardroom to the ballot box.

The votes will be counted in Madrid. The repercussions may be felt in Manchester.