Image Credits: Imago Images
The noise around Real Madrid’s presidential race has been growing louder by the day, with transfer promises and coaching rumours flying in from all angles. Current president Florentino Perez reportedly wants to bring Michael Olise to the club for in a €150m bid.
At the same time, Fabrizio Romano revealed that rival candidate Enrique Riquelme has floated an even more spectacular idea: bringing former Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp to Madrid as the face of his sporting project.
Riquelme’s camp has been associated with ambitious plans involving superstar players such as Erling Haaland and Rodri.
However, the presidential hopeful has now moved to cool some of that speculation. Asked directly about Klopp, Riquelme struck a more cautious tone, stressing that while he admires top coaches, the managerial question is not in his hands:
“Just as I can confidently confirm some names, I have to be more cautious with coaches. Klopp is a great coach, but I can’t confirm anything. I’ve never sat down with Klopp, or any other coach. That’s the responsibility of the sporting department,” he said as quoted by Sports Illustrated.
He added:
“I already have a sporting director, and he’s Spanish. We’ve decided on the signings with him and the coach. If I win the elections, Raúl González Blanco will be Real Madrid’s sporting director.”
“There needs to be a culture of professionals who would never harm Real Madrid. I explained the project to him, and the more I get to know him, the more certain I am that he’s someone who will always have Real Madrid’s best interests at heart.”
Taken alongside Klopp’s own insistence that talk of him going to Madrid this summer is “nonsense” and that there has been no contact from the club, the idea of him rocking up at the Bernabéu always felt like a long shot.