Real Madrid’s presidential election takes place on Sunday, as Perez vows to sign $150 million ‘great player’

Florentino Perez has vowed to make a club record bid for an unnamed “great player” if re-elected Real Madrid president on Sunday.

He said he would offer “around €150m” (£130m) for an attacking player – but said it wasn’t Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane, Michel Olise or Manchester City’s Jeremy Doku.

Perez, 79, also ruled out signing Erling Haaland, as election challenger Enrique Riquelme promised earlier this week.

Haaland’s club Manchester City have since said there is “no possibility” of such a transfer and are threatening legal action against Riquelme.

Real Madrid is entirely owned by the members who decide its president. Each member pays an annual fee of around £130 and almost 100,000 of them will vote on Sunday.

After his first election in 2000, Perez pursued a “Galacticos” policy of signing expensive world-class players including Luis Figo, David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane.

Real Madrid won two La Liga titles and a Champions League before Perez resigned in 2006 following disappointing results.

He ran for president again unopposed in 2009 and did so four more times in his second 17-year term.

Trailing La Liga champions Barcelona by eight points, Real Madrid ended the 2025-26 season without major trophies for the second season in a row.

As the season drew to a close, Perez called a press conference in which he railed against the club’s enemies and urged those who were unhappy with his leadership to run against him for president.

Renewable energy tycoon Riquelme stepped up, leaving Perez to compete with another candidate to keep his role for the first time in 20 years.

Perez promised voters on Wednesday that he would launch a Galacticos-style transfer bid within days of his hopes of being re-elected.

“I have some news for you,” he told the Spanish television program Horizonte.

“Around Tuesday I will make an offer to a big Champions League club for a great player. It would be the biggest transfer fee Real Madrid has ever paid in its history.”

Perez was asked the identity of his target and the size of the compensation.

“Olise is a great player, but he is not Olise,” Perez said. “It’s not even Doku.

«We will make a significant offer, at least around 150 million.

“He has to be a midfielder who can move forward. And he’s not Haaland.

“The player is not from the Premier League. And the first thing we will do is talk to the club.

“It’s a signature that’s meant to generate excitement because that’s what it’s about, generating excitement.”

He also reminded voters that his re-election would trigger already agreed deals for manager Jose Mourinho, Inter defender Denzel Dumfries and Ibrahima Konate, whose contract with Liverpool will not be renewed.