Enrique Riquelme promises to sign Erling Haaland if he becomes Real Madrid president

Real Madrid presidential hopeful Enrique Riquelme has doubled down on his intentions to sign Erling Haaland if he defeats Florentino Perez in the leadership election.

His promise to sign the Norwegian forward came just hours after Manchester City announced that they were considering taking "legal action" against Enrique after he claimed that Haaland has a release clause in his City contract and "wants to join Real Madrid".

Haaland's agent Rafaela Pimenta and father, Alfie Haaland, braded the claims as "very entertaining" but completely "not true".

Riquelme is the first candidate in two decades to challenge Perez for the presidency and has launched an aggressive campaign in a bid to garner support for his leadership charge.

Despite backlash from both Haaland's team and the threat of legal action from Manchester City, the 37-year-old has underlined his claims that he will sign the prolific forward if he wins the election.

"Haaland's camp denied the agreement? Well, it's part of the game. It happened with Figo too," Riquelme told reporters.

"I understand that they have to take care of the player and protect him within his club and his camp. That seems normal to me.

"But I'm telling you again: Erling Haaland will join Real Madrid if I'm president."

Prior to signing with the Citizens in the summer of 2022, Haaland was repeatedly linked with a move to the Santiago Bernabéu after outstanding goalscoring seasons with both Red Bull Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund.

However, the 25-year-old's choice of club has been more than vindicated, scoring 162 goals in just shy of 200 matches for the club whilst also lifting eight trophies during his time at the Etihad.

Haaland's best season to date came in 2022/23 when he netted 52 times in all competitions as City landed a historic treble.