Florentino Pérez’s press conference on Tuesday raised plenty of eyebrows. His interview with La Sexta was no less notable, as the Real Madrid president touched on several topics, including Kylian Mbappé and a possible move for Erling Haaland.
Pérez said: “I have never spoken with any player. I never talk about sporting matters. I have not spoken with Mbappé. If I see him, I greet him. He is our best player. The one who has scored the most goals.”
His answer was much less clear when asked about a possible signing of Haaland from Manchester City. While Pérez did not say the club is making a move for him, he also did not close the door on the idea: “Well, I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t give my opinion on these things.”
The manager search
A major topic around Real Madrid is who could be the next manager if Álvaro Arbeloa leaves. The name most often mentioned is José Mourinho, who was also addressed by Pérez. He said: “I like many managers. Mourinho gave us a lot. But the president does not choose the manager.” That also brought Xabi Alonso into the discussion.
Alonso was fired earlier this year (Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images)
The other name tied to the club’s chaotic period is Alonso, who was hired last year after major success with Bayer Leverkusen but was dismissed in January after the team failed to deliver the results expected.
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Pérez said: “I was not wrong to appoint Alonso. We did not have a preseason and we collapsed physically. We had many injuries. We are running tests to fix that. It has been a very bad season. But it all starts with the Club World Cup. We did not have a preseason.”
Pérez on the Valverde-Tchouaméni scandal
Last week’s biggest topic was also a Real Madrid scandal, as Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni had a disagreement that ended with the Uruguayan in the hospital. For the president, the leak was worse than the incident itself.
Pérez said: “It is very ugly to whistle. They are our players and you should not boo them. There are always fights in teams. And leaking it is very ugly. We know who did it. Fights happen every year. It is something normal.”
