Spanish businessman Enrique Riquelme is competing against Florentino Perez for the Real Madrid presidency, and Perez seems to finally be starting to feel the heat from his competitor, who is trying to find an opening to swoop in and steal the power from the man who has been the center of things in the Spanish capital for the better part of the last 25 years.
Real Madrid are coming off back to back seasons without a trophy, and that is, for Riquelme, an opportune moment to rock the boat and challenge Perez. Most Madridistas, though, aren't really taking Riquelme as a threat, and there are plenty who even see him as a nuisance, ready to blame him if he causes a Jose Mourinho hiring to fall through.
In order to entice the supporters to vote for him, Riquelme has been taking a page out of Perez's old book, and whlie he isn't going for something as concrete or as extravagant as signing Barcelona's Ballon d'Or contender and best player as Florentino did in the early 2000s with Luis Figo, he is promising two new superstars to go with a new superstar manager.
Enrique Riquelme goes for the obvious fruit
Real Madrid fans are not quite impressed yet, though, and they are pushing Enrique Riquelme to give some concrete names instead of just blowing smoke. Although he has not confirmed anything just yet, Riquelme finally gave Madridistas one big name to think about.
He told Rodra P of ESPN Deportes that Manchester City star Rodri, who is available for transfer this summer with Pep Guardiola officially leaving, is the kind of player he wants to see at Real Madrid this summer window.
Riquelme said of Rodri, “Rodri? He's the type of player who should be playing for Real Madrid. At this moment, he's at another club and we have to respect that. But we'll talk about these matters starting from Saturday.”
Real Madrid fans are not sure what Florentino Perez thinks of Rodri, and he may have designs on younger defensive midfield playmakers like Enzo Fernandez of Chelsea and PSG's dream catch Joao Neves, who is a prestigious Jorge Mendes client.
But Rodri is a Ballon d'Or winner, and while Real Madrid fans wish they did not have to say that, there is also no bad blood between him and Vinicius Junior, whom Rodri admitted to being a fan of and said he would have enjoyed seeing the Brazilian win a deserving Ballon d'Or. Rodri is a realistic target no matter the sporting director or president and a great addition to Real Madrid. So when it comes to him being an actual selling point for Riquelme, the jury is still out on that.
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