Real Madrid presidential candidate Enrique Riquelme, the founder of Cox Energy, is pushing as hard as he possibly can to give the legendary Florentino Perez a run for his money in what is an admittedly impossible task.
Riquelme has been doing his best to advertise an appealing sporting project to convince Madridistas that he is a serious candidate. He has been boasting about a big name manager as a counter to Florentino's Jose Mourinho plan, and he has been speaking an awful lot about bringing Spanish midfielder and 2024 Ballon d'Or winner Rodri to the Santiago Bernabeu.
While Rodri and Manchester City teammate Erling Haaland are indeed pretty tantalizing guarantees to bring to Real Madrid, though to be fair Florentino could easily sign Rodri as well after the player publicly pined for Real a couple of months ago, he has one idea that isn't as big of a flex as he thinks it is.
Enrique Riquelme is working with a Real Madrid legend
Speaking at a press conference in the lead up to the Real Madrid presidential elections, Enrique Riquelme stated that his choice for the sporting director role if he is confirmed as president is already sealed and it is Real Madrid legend Raul.
Riquelme said, via the Madrid Zone"Rodri will join Real Madrid if I'm president. Raul will be our sporting director. On Wednesday, I will announce a non-Spanish superstar who will join us. After Wednesday, I will announce our coach."
As Real Madrid fans continue to wait to hear exactly who Riquelme has in mind as the future coach of Real under his supposed rule, they will bristle at Raul. Because while Raul is a very respected player in the history of the club and was the homegrown superstar who was bigger than the Galacticos when they all played together, he was a very flawed coach and has no proven track record or experience as a sporting director, which is a different job entirely.
Maybe Raul could be a great sporting director, and nobody will want to talk poorly of him. But it's not like there is any reason to be hyped or believe that Riquelme is shattering the earth with Raul; it's not like he is poaching Luis Campos, coaxing Michael Zorc or somebody like that out of retirement for the Real Madrid front office. Raul, in all honesty, is a pretty weak hire, and even though being attached to someone like that gives Riquelme some legitimacy as he pines for Madridista votes, the sensible ones will not be swayed by this news.
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