Manchester City star Erling Haaland<\/a>.<\/p>\nArticle continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Riquelme has the names, but does he have the clout?<\/p>\n
Riquelme got a big boost when Madrid great Ra\u00fal, its record holder for games played, former goalkeeper Iker Casillas and ex-defender Fernando Hierro joined his campaign.<\/p>\n
Ra\u00fal would be Riquelme\u2019s sports director, a role that doesn\u2019t exist now, while Hierro would oversee its youth academy. Casillas\u2019s exact role was not defined.<\/p>\n
Riquelme also said he wanted to sign Spain midfielder Rodri, who has one year left on his contract with City.<\/p>\n
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But Riquelme\u2019s big lure dangled to voters this week, his claim that \u201cHaaland wants to come to Madrid,\u201d prompted City to dismiss any chance of negotiating for the sale of its top-scoring striker who is under contract until 2034.<\/p>\n
That didn\u2019t stop Riquelme going on Spain\u2019s state broadcaster TVE and doubling down on his pledge.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I am made president of Real Madrid on Sunday, Haaland will play for Real Madrid,\u201d he said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Then it was the turn of Haaland’s entourage to shoot it down.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAll very entertaining but not true. We wish all the best for both candidates in the Madrid elections,\u201d Haaland\u2019s agent, Rafaela Pimenta, told the AP in a short statement on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt must be a bluff,\u201d was P\u00e9rez’s opinion.<\/p>\n
P\u00e9rez has earned status as top dog<\/p>\n
Not to be outdone, P\u00e9rez said Thursday that next week \u2014 after the election \u2014 he would announce the \u201cmost expensive transfer in the history of Real Madrid,” worth, he said, at least 150 million euros ($173 million).<\/p>\n
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He knows a thing or two about promising apparently impossible signings \u2014 and then making them come true. He won his first elections in 2000 when he swore he would sign then-Barcelona forward Luis Figo. And that he did.<\/p>\n
Now, P\u00e9rez has promised to bring back Jos\u00e9 Mourinho, Madrid\u2019s coach from 2010-13, and sign Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konat\u00e9, a free agent, and Inter Milan\u2019s Denzel Dumfries, if he is given another four years.<\/p>\n
While those names are unlikely to thrill all of Madrid\u2019s members, Mourinho\u2019s abrasive style left the fanbase divided, P\u00e9rez\u2019s pledges do have the value of being completely credible.<\/p>\n
Besides Figo, he has consistently delivered on his transfer targets, from Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham, to Cristiano Ronaldo and, most recently, after years of trying, Kylian Mbapp\u00e9.<\/p>\n
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And, regardless of his plans, P\u00e9rez’s wildly successful record is his best pitch.<\/p>\n
In his two stints, from 2000-2006 and from 2009 until now, Madrid has won seven of its record 15 European Cups, along with a slew of other titles, including seven La Liga crowns and three Copa del Reys.<\/p>\n
That all has been fueled by healthy finances as it was transformed into a global brand under P\u00e9rez, who also runs a major international construction company: Madrid has topped the Forbes Money League of the world\u2019s most valuable soccer clubs for five consecutive seasons.<\/p>\n
But P\u00e9rez also has weak spots<\/p>\n
P\u00e9rez’s Super League project meant to transform European soccer and replace UEFA\u2019s Champions League with a club-run competition flopped in the face of backlash from some fans, many smaller clubs, and UEFA.<\/p>\n
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And so far his bet on Mbapp\u00e9 has not panned out. In the star\u2019s two seasons at Madrid it has won no major titles, while P\u00e9rez has parted ways with three coaches in Carlo Ancelotti, Xabi Alonso and \u00c1lvaro Arbeloa.<\/p>\n
Riquelme is also taking aim at the idea P\u00e9rez floated last year to sell 10% of the club to private investors, a move that would break with 124 years of the member ownership model.<\/p>\n
P\u00e9rez ran unchallenged when elections were to be held in 2009, 2013, 2017, 2021 and 2025. His latest term was set to expire in 2029.<\/p>\n
Riquelme has reiterated previous complaints that changes P\u00e9rez’s board made to the club statutes in 2012 made it more difficult for members to present a candidacy for the presidency.<\/p>\n
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Since then, a presidential candidate has had to be a club member for 20 years and have collateral equivalent to 15% of the club budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most important thing is that after 20 years, due to a complete lack of democracy and impediments year after year so that other members of Real Madrid can run, now the moment to vote has arrived,\u201d Riquelme said.<\/p>\n
P\u00e9rez stepped down in 2006 following a bad season but returned to power in 2009.<\/p>\n
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AP soccer writer James Robson contributed to this report from Manchester, England.<\/p>\n
AP soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/a>\n<\/p>\nArticle continues below this ad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Real MadridPresident Florentino Perez reacts before a La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Athletic in Madrid,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7074,1870,9944,3652,2233,16794,17018,1693,4297,6095,82,1562,1558,17020,17016,14716,17],"class_list":["post-35326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-madrid","tag-carlo-ancelotti","tag-cristiano-ronaldo","tag-david-beckham","tag-denzel-dumfries","tag-enrique-riquelme","tag-erling-haland","tag-fernando-hierro","tag-florentino-perez","tag-jose-mourinho","tag-luis-figo","tag-madrid","tag-package-100502-member-choice-sports-option","tag-product-30599-ap-sports-news-s-wire-only","tag-rafaela-pimenta","tag-real-madrid-elections-florentino-perez-enrique-riquelme","tag-rodrigo-hernandez","tag-spain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}