Perez reveals €150m signing in Real Madrid election battle

Florentino Perez has thrown a grenade into Real Madrid’s presidential race, revealing plans for a €150 million signing while savaging rival candidate Enrique Riquelme and what he sees as a campaign to destabilise the club.

Appearing on the television programme Horizonte, the long-serving president was pressed on the usual names. Erling Haaland. Harry Kane. The kind of forwards that dominate front pages and presidential manifestos.

Perez didn’t flinch.

“It's not Erling Haaland or Harry Kane,” he said, cutting through weeks of speculation with a single line.

So who is it? He wouldn’t say. But he made one thing very clear: the deal is huge, and it is close.

“On Tuesday, I'm going to make a significant offer to a top Champions League team for a great player. It would be the largest transfer fee Real Madrid has ever paid. At least 150 million.”

In a club where transfer sagas are part of the fabric, that is a remarkable statement. Madrid’s history is built on big names and bigger numbers, yet Perez is now promising a fee that would eclipse them all.

A new transfer plan – and three names on the way

Perez insisted that the club’s transfer strategy is already in motion, and not built around the headline-grabbing pledges of his challenger.

He named three targets outright: Jose Mourinho, Ibrahima Konaté and Denzel Dumfries.

“I can tell you about three signings: [Jose] Mourinho, [Ibrahima] Konate, and [Denzel] Dumfries. But there will be more.”

The message was unmistakable. While Riquelme talks about Haaland, Perez wants to project control, planning and concrete moves. A coach, a centre-back, a full-back, and a mystery superstar who would command a record fee.

The timing is no accident. Pressure is building from Riquelme, who has publicly promised to bring Haaland to the Santiago Bernabéu if elected. In the heat of an election, that kind of promise can sway votes. Perez clearly believes it crosses a line.

“A candidacy full of bluffs”

If the transfer talk was bold, his comments on Riquelme were blistering.

Perez accused his rival of misleading Madridistas with unrealistic promises, focusing in particular on the Haaland pledge.

“Everyone has denied it: his father, his agent, and the club. It's a bluff. It's a candidacy full of bluffs. And that's why I'm here, to defend Real Madrid. We are a united club.”

For Perez, this is about more than a striker. He framed the election as a battle for the soul of the institution, returning again and again to the idea that outside forces are trying to twist the club’s values for their own gain.

“Conspiracy” and old ghosts at the Bernabéu

The president spoke with unusual fury about what he described as a long-running effort to unsettle Real Madrid from the shadows.

“The criticism doesn't hurt me. What hurts me is that these people want to influence Real Madrid; Riquelme's father was one of them,” he said.

He went further, accusing unnamed figures of manipulating club assemblies in the past.

“I've been noticing a kind of conspiracy in the media to destabilize the club. I wanted to nip it in the bud. That's why I decided to call elections. What a coincidence that those who wanted to destabilize Real Madrid are the same ones who come from a sinister period in the club's history. They brought people into the assemblies who weren't from Real Madrid, they snuck in. And that's why I came back in 2009. Now, those are their children. I'm furious.”

The language was raw, personal, and pointed. For a president who usually prefers to operate from a distance, this was a rare glimpse of open anger.

Elections at Real Madrid are often quiet affairs, controlled by the incumbent and shaped by institutional continuity. This one feels different. There is open conflict, public accusation and, now, the promise of a record-breaking transfer thrown into the middle of it all.

Perez has set the stakes: a €150 million signing, a reshaped technical project, and a fight, as he frames it, to protect the club from a “sinister” return to the past.

The next move comes on Tuesday, when that “significant offer” lands on the desk of a Champions League giant. Whether the mystery player arrives or not, the message is already out: Florentino Perez is not campaigning quietly. He is spending, attacking and defending — all at once — to keep his hands on Real Madrid’s future.