Sharp Response from City to Riquelme: Ready to Take Legal Action

The official response, which English media commented as "one of City's harshest club statements to date", came with Thursday daylight. The Manchester City press office wholly opposed the statement made by Real Madrid presidential candidate Enrique Riquelme a day earlier on the El Hormiguero programme: "Haaland has a release clause, he wants to come to Real Madrid. If I win, he will play at Real Madrid." Sky Sports reporter James Green conveyed the club statement: "The stories which have emerged from Spain are untrue. There is no chance of this happening and there is no contractual clause to enable it." The harshness of the words was not coincidental — the club also brought the legal threat to the agenda.

The second part of the statement was the section that attracted real international attention: "We are considering legal action for the use of our player image in this context." This sentence particularly refers to Riquelme showing the number 9 Real Madrid jersey with Haaland's name written on it in the TV studio and signing the notary-certified guarantee document. The opinion of Manchester City's legal team is that Riquelme's action used Haaland's image rights for personal campaign interest. According to news sourced from Sky Sports, ESPN, Yahoo Sports and The Athletic, the club can pursue the case even after the election; this situation could create unprecedented legal tension in Spanish football.

Reactions from the Riquelme camp are not yet clear; however, the businessman did not back down from his social media accounts. Riquelme's previously given notary commitment "If I do not keep my promises, I will cover all the season's dues of Real Madrid socios" is still valid. Before Sunday's presidential election, this legal threat has seriously shaken Riquelme's campaign. Real Madrid's current president Florentino Perez did not intervene directly in the matter; however, the José Mourinho return video shared from Perez's election account a day earlier is still on the agenda. Perez intends to secure his 4th election on June 7.

A parallel denial had also come from the Haaland camp. In the exclusive news Fabrizio Romano shared on Wednesday night, Haaland's father Alfie Haaland and agent Rafaela Pimenta had made a joint statement: "All very entertaining but not true. We wish all the best for both candidates in the Real Madrid elections." This message is proof of a two-layered reaction: both the club and the player camp categorically reject Riquelme's claims. The Norwegian scorer had signed a giant 9-year contract extending until 2034 with City in January 2025; the club clearly stated that there was no exit clause triggering Real Madrid in that agreement.

Sunday's election will go down in history as Real Madrid's first contested presidential election in 20 years. Riquelme's promise of Haaland and Rodri was the main engine of his campaign; however, the denials coming from both the player's camp and the club's camp, and the subsequent legal threat, seriously damaged the credibility of the campaign. Florentino Perez's concrete steps such as Konaté, Dumfries and Mourinho stand out at this point. City, on the other hand, plans to keep Haaland until 2034; the Norwegian scorer will be at the centre of the new head coach Enzo Maresca's 3-year project. The club also sees him as the most critical star in the restructuring process after Pep Guardiola's 10-year era.

This is the first incident in Manchester City's history where they have considered taking legal action because of a presidential campaign. The club, which is the Premier League champion, FIFA Club World Cup champion and Champions League champion, clearly showed that they will not allow their player's image rights to be a propaganda tool for a Spanish election campaign. Whether the case will be filed in the coming days will become clear; however, it is now certain that an unprecedented British legal intervention signal has come to the Spanish election atmosphere. Regardless of the election result on Sunday night, this denial will remain as an unerased note in Riquelme's campaign history.

Image: skysports.com