Clear Response from the Haaland Camp

A definitive response came to the transfer bomb that shook the Spanish football market four days before the Real Madrid presidential election. Following Enrique Riquelme's striking statement on the El Hormiguero program "If I win, Haaland will come to Real Madrid. He has an exit clause, he wants to come to Real Madrid", a clear denial came from the Norwegian scorer's camp. In the exclusive news Fabrizio Romano shared on X, Alfie Haaland and agent Rafaela Pimenta destroyed the statements with a joint declaration.

The statement given by the two names to Romano was clear and short: "All very entertaining but NOT true." There are two critical points in this sentence. First, the expression "very entertaining" refers to the media theatre created by Riquelme's show of signing a notary-certified contract by showing a number 9 shirt with Haaland written on it in the El Hormiguero studio. Second, "not true" is a clear and corrective denial — that is, there is no agreement between Haaland and Riquelme, this is just campaign propaganda. The sentence completing the statement also carries a deliberate tone of neutrality towards the Real Madrid election: "We wish all the best for both candidates in the Real Madrid elections."

This neutral message is particularly noteworthy. The Haaland camp neither supports Florentino Perez nor rejects Riquelme — it only denies the transfer agreement claim. Romano's tweet sharing the statement reached 15,000 likes and 632,000 views in 25 minutes. On Twitter and social media, comments that Riquelme's campaign bomb "flew in the air" became widespread. In discussions on Real Madrid fan pages, it became clear that Riquelme's statement was actually made without approval from Haaland's agent team.

The inclusion of Haaland's agent Rafaela Pimenta in this denial is particularly important. Pimenta runs the Haaland camp as the successor of the deceased famous agent Mino Raiola. Although in the past she had not rejected interest in Real Madrid and made comments like "Real Madrid is every player's dream", she clearly stated that the current transfer claims are not true. His father Alfie Haaland is one of Manchester City's former players (played at City for 3 seasons between 1997-2003), born November 22, 1972, former Norway National Team player. He had ended his career due to Roy Keane's harsh challenge in 2003. He plays an important role in transfer decisions as both Erling's father and football career advisor.

Romano's second bomb shared in the same minutes clarified the picture even more. "Manchester City are completely relaxed about Erling Haaland's immediate future, not expecting his exit at all this summer. City see Haaland staying and did not get any exit indication from the player — part of the project also under Maresca." This expression is very critical because Manchester City is experiencing a big transition period this summer. Pep Guardiola's 10-year legendary era ended with the conclusion of the 2025-26 season; in his place, 46-year-old Italian Enzo Maresca was officially announced on May 26 as Pep Guardiola's successor with a 3-year contract. Maresca had previously coached City's U23 in 2020-21 and served as Guardiola's assistant in the 2022-23 Treble season.

It should also be reminded that Haaland signed a giant 10-year contract with City extending until 2034 in January 2025. The Norwegian scorer was saying at that time "I am looking forward to staying here for a long time. The support coming from the management, the coaches and Pep made the decision easy." Again, 25-year-old Haaland led Norway's first World Cup participation since 1998 by scoring a total of 38 goals at club and national team in the 2025-26 season. The brace he scored against Italy at San Siro on November 16 had carried Norway's historic 4-1 victory. Although there have been rumours for a long time that there is an exit clause in his contract targeting Real Madrid, it became clear that City club has been working to invalidate this clause and both player and club sides agreed on the decision to stay.

This denial will have a very serious impact on the Real Madrid presidential election. The main engine of Riquelme's campaign was the Haaland promise; if this promise is rotting now, the election psychology will have clearly shifted to Florentino Perez's side. The 79-year-old Perez's campaign is centred on José Mourinho's return to Real Madrid — no denial came from this side, the contract had already been confirmed by The Athletic. According to another news Romano shared the same night, Florentino Perez has also completed the transfers of Denzel Dumfries from Inter (20M€ release clause) and Ibrahima Konaté from Liverpool (free transfer). On Sunday, voting will start at 09:00 and close at 20:00 at the basketball hall in Real Madrid City. Even without waiting for the result, Florentino's advantage has concretely increased.

Source: Fabrizio Romano 

Image: eurosport.com.tr