Perez promises record €150m signing amid election tension
Florentino Perez has thrown a grenade into Real Madrid’s presidential race, insisting the club are on the verge of a record-breaking transfer while dismissing the headline names dominating the rumour mill.
Appearing on television programme Horizonte, the long-serving president was pressed on whether Madrid were moving for Erling Haaland or Harry Kane. He didn’t hesitate.
"It's not Erling Haaland or Harry Kane," Perez said, cutting through weeks of speculation in a single line.
Instead, he hinted at something even bigger, at least in financial terms. Perez revealed that Madrid expect to announce the arrival of a player valued at €150 million next week, a deal he says would represent the largest transfer fee the club has ever paid.
On its own, that claim would shake a summer window. In the middle of a heated election campaign, it lands like a power play.
Largest transfer fee Real Madrid has ever paid
Perez laid out part of his transfer plan on air, naming three deals he says are already in motion.
"I can tell you about three signings: [Jose] Mourinho, [Ibrahima] Konate, and [Denzel] Dumfries. But there will be more," he said.
Then came the real headline.
"On Tuesday, I'm going to make a significant offer to a top Champions League team for a great player. It would be the largest transfer fee Real Madrid has ever paid. At least 150 million."
No name. No club. Just a number and a promise. In an election climate, that is calculated theatre.
The timing is not accidental. Perez faces growing pressure from presidential rival Enrique Riquelme, who has built part of his campaign on a bold pledge: bring Haaland to the Santiago Bernabeu. The message is simple — new blood, new era, new superstar.
Perez’s response? Call it out, and call it bluff.
Haaland, Kane and a candidacy full of bluffs
Riquelme’s vow to deliver Haaland has dominated much of the political noise around Madrid in recent weeks. Perez moved to strip that promise of credibility.
"Everyone has denied it: his father, his agent, and the club," he said of the Haaland links. "It's a bluff. It's a candidacy full of bluffs. And that's why I'm here, to defend Real Madrid. We are a united club."
The message is as much to the socios as it is to his rival: trust the institution already in place, not big promises from the outside.
Kane, another name repeatedly tied to Madrid, received the same treatment. Perez was unequivocal that neither the Manchester City striker nor the Bayern Munich forward is part of the club’s current plans, at least in terms of this €150m headline move.
The intrigue, then, lies in the mystery signing. A “great player”, a Champions League club, and a figure that would eclipse all previous Madrid outlays — in the middle of an election, that becomes both transfer strategy and political weapon.
Conspiracy in the media and a furious president
Beneath the talk of signings and superstars sits a deeper tension. Perez used the platform not only to talk transfers, but to air his anger at what he sees as a coordinated effort to destabilise the club.
"The criticism doesn't hurt me. What hurts me is that these people want to influence Real Madrid; Riquelme's father was one of them," he said.
"I've been noticing a kind of conspiracy in the media to destabilize the club. I wanted to nip it in the bud. That's why I decided to call elections."
He then drew a direct line between the current moment and what he described as a “sinister period” in Real Madrid’s history.
"What a coincidence that those who wanted to destabilize Real Madrid are the same ones who come from a sinister period in the club's history. They brought people into the assemblies who weren't from Real Madrid, they snuck in. And that's why I came back in 2009. Now, those are their children. I'm furious."
It was a rare glimpse of raw emotion from a president usually associated with cold calculation. The language was personal, almost generational — fathers, sons, and old battles revived in a new campaign.
A record signing as a statement of power
Strip away the political noise and one point remains clear: Perez is preparing to anchor his re-election bid to the promise of a blockbuster arrival.
Three names already on his list — Mourinho, Konate, Dumfries — signal a sweeping rebuild in both dugout and dressing room. The teased €150m signing sits above them all, a symbol of financial muscle and sporting ambition at a time when his authority is being challenged.
For the socios, the question is obvious. Do they believe in Riquelme’s Haaland dream, which Perez insists is “a bluff”, or in the sitting president’s pledge of a record-breaking, unnamed star?
Perez has chosen his battleground: the transfer market. The next move, he says, comes on Tuesday.
