Enrique Riquelme Had a Chance to Be Real Madrid’s Adult in the Room—He Blew It

The final stretch of the presidential campaign has entered the realm of the fantastical.

Enrique Riquleme’s brash pledges have caused a stir. | Pierre-Philippe MARCOU / AFP via Getty Images

Enrique Riquelme may have entered the race to become Real Madrid’s next president as an outsider, but he is certainly well-known now.

Entering the final stretch of the campaign, the 37-year-old renewable energy entrepreneur knew he might only have one big chance left to make an impression on voters ahead of Sunday’s vote. He chose to shoot his shot on prime-time Spanish talk show El Hormiguero (The Anthill), where he unveiled his grand plans to sign not only Rodri but also his superstar Manchester City teammate Erling Haaland.

The whole episode was made more surreal by Riquelme waving a Real Madrid jersey with “Haaland 9” emblazoned on the back and taking questions from the show’s ant puppet duo Trancas and Barrancas.

The fallout was immediate. Manchester City have threatened legal action, while Haaland’s father, Alfe-Inge called the moment “very entertaining but not true.”

A penny too for Kylian Mbappé’s thoughts, who will have seen the would-be president apparently gifting his No. 9 shirt to another the three-time Premier League Golden Boot winner on national television without warning.

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Riquelme Doubles Down

[EXCLUSIVA] El FICHAJE ESTRELLA de Enrique Riquelme #RiquelmeEH pic.twitter.com/XziduVyN68

— El Hormiguero (@El_Hormiguero) June 3, 2026

The moment did exactly what it was intended to do: in the attention economy, it got people’s attention. Riquelme is now the week’s main character.

El Hormiguero claimed that Wednesday night’s show was their most-viewed with over 4.3 million tuning in to watch the presidential candidate boldly promise to deliver the blockbuster duo.

So confident is Riquelme that he has doubled down on his vow to cover all club membership fees if he fails to bring the two to the Bernabéu during his term.

The day after City and Haaland’s denial, Riquelme told AS: “It’s part of the game. Nobody knows it better than you. It happened with [Luís] Figo too.

“Besides what I’ve already said, I put up a guarantee, a personal pledge that if I failed to deliver on any of those promises, I would personally pay the dues of all 100,000 Real Madrid members [around €15 million]. I can’t ask for the members’ trust if I don’t believe in my own proposal.”

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Taking on Pérez at His Own Game

Riquelme and Pérez have both leant into big campaign promises. | Alberto Gardin/NurPhoto/Juan Naharro Gimenez/Getty Images

In response, Pérez—desperate not to be out-manoeuvred at his own game—hit back with his own claim that he will bid €150 million ($175 million) for a new “Galáctico”—though he has declined to name the player. Still, when Madrid’s 100,000-strong socio base go to the polls on Sunday, it will be hard not to think about Riquelme’s Haaland claim.

The young contender has surely calculated that he needed to do something big, bold and brash to have a fighting chance of unseating Pérez, who has had a chokehold on Madrid for most of the 21st century.

His citing of the Figo transfer—Pérez’s most famous signing that kickstarted the original Galácticos project and rocked the world of soccer back in 2000—shows the playbook he is borrowing from. He is trying to fight fire with fire. But this election didn’t need to be about that.

Pérez is the favorite but his position at the top has been weakened by two disappointing seasons on the pitch and months of chaos off it.

The extraordinary press conference on May 12, during which Pérez first called for elections, out of the blue and ahead of schedule, appeared to be another example of how one of the club’s most transformative figures was losing touch, as he bumbled and railed against enemies real and imagined in front of a confused press corps.

After a week in which Madrid had had to put out a statement about a locker room fight between Federico Valverde and Aurelién Tchouaméni that ended with the former in hospital, Pérez did nothing to steady the ship and reassert a sense of calm.

Earlier this season, chants of “Florentino, resign” rung out at the Bernabéu amid reports of a power struggle involving Pérez’s advisor Anas Laghrari and CEO José Ángel Sánchez behind the scenes.

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A Chance for Change

José Mourinho is no longer the big talking point at Madrid. | Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images

Real Madrid have been a sideshow for months and Riquelme had the chance to set himself apart as the adult in the room, who could take Madrid forward into a new era.

He might also have zeroed in on Pérez’s divisive (and expensive) choice of José Mourinho as manager—whose promised appointment feels like bringing napalm to a knife fight amid Madrid’s locker room tensions. Had he wanted to, Riquelme could’ve even turned this election into a referendum on Mourinho’s return. Instead he has chosen fantasy.

Regardless of whether Haaland does actually have a release clause in his City contract, the Norwegian is not the signing Real Madrid need right now, with a dysfunctional attack already struggling to accommodate Mbappé, Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham. If you throw in Haaland, you might as well add a couple of ant puppets at this point.

But Riquelme has got what he came for: your attention. Whether it’s enough to win the election remains to be seen.

Whoever comes out victorious, it’s hard to see a leader ready to take on Madrid’s issues seriously.

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