Election campaign at the Royals
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“I will shortly, on Tuesday, make an offer to a Champions League club that will be the highest sum Real Madrid has ever paid for a player – at least 150 million.” With these words, Florentino Pérez caused a stir on the “Horizons” program on the Spanish broadcaster “CUATRO”. The 79-year-old club boss is currently in the election campaign for the presidency of the Royals. On Friday, the “Telegraph” from London and “AS” from Madrid reported that his desired player was Bayern professional Michael Olise – but a transfer is therefore far from likely.
“It’s not (Jérémy) Doku, not (Michael) Olise and not (Erling) Haaland, not even (Harry) Kane,” said Pérez, before adding that the player is not active in the Premier League. There was therefore much to suggest that it must be a professional from Paris Saint-Germain, as the most valuable players in the world are all under contract in England, Munich, Paris or with arch-rivals FC Barcelona, which categorically rules out transfers to Real. However, this classification was called into question on Friday when several media reports again brought Olise into play. The Madrilenians, who have had a season without a title, have spent over 100 million euros on a new signing three times in their club history – most recently in 2024 for ex-Dortmund Jude Bellingham.
Pérez announced that he would send the offer in any case, provided that the majority of Real members eligible to vote voted for him. However, interest from Spain is unlikely to cause unrest in Munich. There are several reasons for this.
FC Bayern does not want to sell Olise – Real President Pérez chooses words consciously
On the one hand, those responsible at FC Bayern have been emphasizing for months that they have no interest in selling the best preparer in the Bundesliga. Honorary President Uli Hoeneß made it clear in March that even 200 million euros would not be enough. Supervisory board member Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said in April: “For a player like Olise, there is no price tag that would make us flinch.” And sports director Max Eberl recently explained: “Michael has a contract with us until 2029, without an exit clause – we are relaxed.”
In addition, Pérez consciously made these statements publicly and did not leave the timing to chance. The presidential elections are taking place at Real on June 7th, next Sunday, and the fight for votes with his opponent Enrique Riquelme has been going on for weeks. He had recently announced a transfer from Erling Haaland should he win the election.
Pérez described this statement on Thursday evening as a lie, only to announce a big new signing himself a little later: “Everyone has denied it – the father, the agent, the club. This is a bluff. There are a lot of bluffs in this election campaign. I don’t want people who destabilize the club.”
The difference between the statements of Riquelme and Pérez lies in the details. While the former claimed to have already bagged the transfer behind the scenes, Pérez only spoke of a planned offer. It is very likely that the mentioned 150 million euros will not be enough for Olise. If the 79-year-old were rejected from Munich, he could not be accused of not having tried.
“Pérez always chooses his words carefully. He could also have said that he will definitely buy Olise. Instead, he just spoke of an offer. I do think that he will try and that he would like to have Olise at Real Madrid, but that doesn’t have to mean that he is going all-in for it,” explains Iván Fuente, TM Area Manager Spain.