Manchester City Considers Legal Action Over Haaland Campaign Stunt

Manchester City have moved from irritation to open confrontation after Real Madrid presidential candidate Enrique Riquelme used Erling Haaland as a campaign prop on Spanish television – and claimed a secret clause would take the striker to the Bernabéu.

On a live appearance on El Hormiguero, Riquelme held up a Madrid shirt with Haaland’s name on the back and told viewers that, if elected on Sunday, he would bring the Norwegian to Spain. He anchored that promise to what he described as a release clause in Haaland’s contract and went further still, vowing to prise Rodri away from the Premier League champions as well.

“Haaland has a release clause and he wants to come to Madrid,” Riquelme said, positioning the 24‑year‑old as the centrepiece of his challenge to the long‑standing president, Florentino Pérez. The Spanish businessman insisted he could activate that supposed clause in the deal Haaland signed in January 2025 – an extraordinary nine‑and‑a‑half‑year contract that City had trumpeted as a statement of long‑term intent.

City hit back hard. By Thursday, the Premier League club had issued a blunt rebuttal and confirmed they are exploring legal options over the use of their player’s image in an electoral circus they neither invited nor welcomed.

“The stories which have emerged from Spain regarding the future of Erling Haaland are untrue,” the club 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.”

The response left little room for ambiguity. City did not simply deny the existence of any release mechanism; they dismissed the entire premise of Riquelme’s promise and signalled they are prepared to defend their position in court if necessary.

Haaland’s camp quickly aligned with the club. His father, Alfie, and his agent, Rafaela Pimenta, poured cold water on the claims and the spectacle around them. “All very entertaining but not true,” they said, before adding a polite nod to the political contest itself: “We wish all the best for both candidates in the Real Madrid elections.”

If the Haaland pledge sounded ambitious, Riquelme’s second marquee promise bordered on audacious. He named Rodri – the metronome of City’s midfield and a Ballon d’Or winner – as another guaranteed arrival should he unseat Pérez.

“He’s a top player, a Ballon d’Or winner in a position where Madrid needs to strengthen. If I become president, Rodri will play for Real Madrid, with all due respect to City,” Riquelme declared.

He tried to bolster those words with an extraordinary financial guarantee aimed squarely at Madrid’s socios. Admitting he lacked Pérez’s track record – “I’ve never been president” – Riquelme said he would personally underwrite his promises for Haaland and Rodri with a notarised commitment. If he failed to deliver, he vowed to pay 100% of the annual membership fees of Madrid’s 100,000 members.

It was pure electoral theatre, high on spectacle and risk. City, though, see little comedy in their key players being used as leverage in another club’s internal politics.

Behind the noise sits a genuine point of tension. Pep Guardiola’s decision to leave City at the end of a decade‑defining tenure has inevitably prompted questions over how securely some of the club’s biggest names are tied to the project. Rivals can smell uncertainty and Riquelme’s gambit leans heavily on the idea that change in Manchester could open doors in Madrid.

Rodri, whose contract runs out next summer, has already acknowledged that the landscape might have shifted. Speaking on Monday, the 29‑year‑old said: “I’m very calm, I know exactly where I stand, and I’ll tell you that perhaps if there hadn’t been a World Cup, things might be different.” It was a hint at context and timing rather than a declaration of intent, but it will not have gone unnoticed in Spain or England.

While City fight off speculative raids at the top end of their squad, they are also working on the next phase of recruitment. Their first move of the summer has already met resistance.

An opening bid for Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson has been rejected, with Forest holding firm on a valuation that underlines both the player’s rise and the current market’s inflation. Hugo Viana, City’s sporting director, is expected to return with an improved offer, but he knows the scale of the task.

Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is believed to want around £100m for the 23‑year‑old – a figure that would match the club‑record fee City paid Aston Villa for Jack Grealish in August 2021. For a midfielder still at the start of his international journey, it is a bold price tag, yet it reflects how highly Forest rate a player poised to step into the global spotlight.

Anderson is in line to start in England’s opening World Cup game against Croatia on 17 June. If that stage amplifies his reputation, City’s pursuit will only grow more complicated – and more expensive – in a summer when they are already battling to keep their biggest stars out of someone else’s campaign posters.