Riquelme calls City's legal threat 'normal' as Haaland transfer saga deepens

Real Madrid presidential candidate Enrique Riquelme has described Manchester City’s threat of legal action against him as a logical reaction, even as he pressed ahead with his promise to sign Erling Haaland should he win Sunday’s club election against long-standing president Florentino Perez.

City issued a firm rebuttal after Riquelme, 37, publicly pledged to bring Haaland to the Bernabéu, insisting the claims were false and warning of potential legal consequences. “The stories which have emerged from Spain regarding the future of Erling Haaland are untrue,” a City spokesperson said. “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.”

Speaking on TVE, Riquelme was unfazed. “It’s normal, it’s an election, there are two candidates, no one is guaranteed to win, and they have to protect the player,” he said. He added that, if elected, he intends to sit down with Haaland’s representatives from Monday: “Starting Monday, we’ll talk, we’ll sit down to talk with them.”

Haaland’s agent Rafaela Pimenta and his father Alfie Haaland issued a joint statement distancing themselves from Riquelme’s claims. “All very entertaining but not true. We wish all the best for both candidates in the Madrid elections,” they said.

The 25-year-old striker’s own focus appears firmly elsewhere for now. Haaland is preparing for the World Cup with Norway, who face Iraq in their Group I opener on 16 June, before meeting Senegal on 23 June and France three days later.

Any transfer speculation also runs up against the contract Haaland signed with City in January 2025 — a nine-and-a-half year extension that underlined his stated commitment to the club he joined from Borussia Dortmund in 2022. Riquelme had previously claimed Haaland holds a release clause and wants to move to Madrid, assertions City flatly denied.

Real Madrid’s membership ballot between Perez, 79, and Riquelme is scheduled for Sunday, with the outcome set to determine whether the challenger’s ambitious transfer promises ever progress beyond campaign rhetoric.