Manchester City Consider Legal Action Over Riquelme's Claims on Haaland
Manchester City are weighing up legal action after Real Madrid presidential candidate Enrique Riquelme used Erling Haaland’s name and image as a campaign prop and claimed the striker has a clause that would let him walk straight into the Bernabéu.
The Spanish businessman, who is challenging Florentino Pérez in Sunday’s elections, appeared on the TV show El Hormiguero holding a Madrid shirt with Haaland’s name on the back. He then told viewers that, if elected, he would sign the Norwegian and prise Rodri away from City as well.
“Haaland has a release clause and he wants to come to Madrid,” Riquelme said, presenting himself as the man who could deliver the next galáctico era.
City hit back hard on Thursday. The Premier League champions issued a blunt statement dismissing the claims and signalling that lawyers may now step in.
“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,” the club said.
The rebuttal did not come only from Manchester. Haaland’s camp moved quickly to shut down the narrative as well. His father, Alfie, and his agent, Rafaela Pimenta, poured cold water on the idea that a secret escape hatch exists in the striker’s deal or that he is agitating to join Madrid.
“All very entertaining but not true,” they said. “We wish all the best for both candidates in the Real Madrid elections.”
The timing of Riquelme’s gambit is no coincidence. In January 2025, Haaland agreed a record nine-and-a-half-year contract with City, a statement deal designed to lock in the club’s most devastating finisher for the long term and to fend off exactly this kind of speculation. To suggest that such a contract contains a simple route out, and that the player is already looking to take it, goes straight to the heart of City’s project and prestige.
Riquelme did not stop at Haaland. He also promised that Rodri, the metronome of City’s midfield and a Ballon d’Or winner, would be wearing white if he wins power at Madrid.
“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, pitching the Spain international as a cornerstone of his sporting programme.
He then tried to turn his lack of presidential experience into a selling point, staking his credibility – and his wallet – on those marquee pledges.
“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 the language of a campaign trail, not a transfer window, and it drags two of City’s most important players into an election battle they did not ask for.
The backdrop in Manchester is sensitive. Pep Guardiola is leaving after a decade that has reshaped the club and, arguably, English football. When a manager of that stature walks away, even the most settled dressing room can start to glance towards the exit.
Rodri, whose contract runs out next summer, has already been asked about his future. His answer this week was calm but not entirely closing the door.
“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.
Those words will be parsed in Madrid and Manchester alike. City know that replacing Guardiola is one thing; losing the brain of their midfield would be quite another. Riquelme, meanwhile, has seized on any hint of uncertainty to dress his campaign in star names and bold promises.
While the noise around Haaland and Rodri grows, City’s recruitment machine keeps moving.
The club have seen an opening bid for Elliot Anderson rejected by Nottingham Forest. The 23-year-old midfielder, highly rated and on the verge of starting England’s opening World Cup game against Croatia on 17 June, has emerged as a key target.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is believed to value Anderson at around £100m – the same club-record fee City paid Aston Villa for Jack Grealish in August 2021. It is a figure that underlines both Forest’s determination to hold their ground and how highly Anderson is regarded at the City Football Academy.
Hugo Viana, City’s sporting director, is expected to return with an improved offer. City rarely walk away from players they truly believe in, but they also rarely allow themselves to be strong-armed in the market.
So the picture is clear. On one front, City are preparing legal letters to protect their stars from being used as political slogans in Madrid. On another, they are trying to land the next major piece of their post-Guardiola rebuild.
Haaland and Rodri sit at the centre of a presidential race in Spain. Anderson stands on the brink of a World Cup and possibly a record move. For City, the question is no longer just who they can bring in, but how fiercely they are willing to fight – in courtrooms as well as boardrooms – to keep what they already have.
