Enrique Riquelme Makes Transfer Promise to Real Madrid Fans

On the 7th of June 2026, Real Madrid will hold elections for the next president of the club, with long standing Florentino Perez and Enrique Riquelme to battle it out head to head. 

For a while, it seemed as if Perez would be the only person to stand for presidency, but in recent weeks, Riquelme put his name forward and has spoken to the media a hell of a lot over the past two weeks as he attempts to raise his public imagine ahead of the elections. 

He has openly talked about the ambitions he would have for the club should he take over from Perez, on and off the pitch. In terms of the latter, he has spoken a lot about signings. 

Well, when speaking to radio station El Partidazo de COPE on Sunday, he made another commitment in the transfer market. Indeed, as he stated: "Rodri is a great player. If I'm president of Real Madrid, Rodri will play for Real Madrid." 

Meanwhile, the player's entourage have confirmed that there have been conversations with Riquelme, but there is no agreement nor even any negotiations. So it is still early days. 

This feels like a rumour that will not go away. There has already been talk for a number of months. That will surely only increase by the fact that Spain are going to the World Cup without a Real Madrid player for the first time ever.

In fact, this is something Riquelme even brought up himself, saying: "As a Real Madrid fan, I'm gutted that no Madrid player is going to play for Spain. If I'm president of Real Madrid, there will be a player who has played in the World Cup. 

An interesting quote. You assume by the final sentence he means he will sign a player from the squad this summer, something he has actually said he will do in other interviews. And well, Rodri certainly fits that bill.

At Euro 2020, there was also no Los Blancos representation in the Spain squad, but this is the first time ever at the World Cup. So, it is clear that something needs to be done about this. Signing one of the national team's biggest superstars in Rodri would be a huge, huge help in that regard. 

With just one year remaining on his contract at City, it certainly does not feel like we have heard the last of this story. Let's see.