Real Madrid: Perez on Mourinho, Mbappe, Haaland, Barcelona ‘bribing’ in response to ‘sexist’ rant | OneFootball

Florentino Perez has opened up on Jose Mourinho’s possible return to Real Madrid, a move for Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, his broken relationship with Barcelona and more in an interview following his explosive press conference, after which he was exposed as a ‘sexist’ by the Spanish media.

Perez bristled as he faced the media on Tuesday, hitting out at a targeted attempt to disparage Real Madrid and his stewardship of the club in a press conference Donald Trump would be proud of.

The president announced he would not step down and called for elections before criticising the media coverage following the fight between Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouameni which hospitalised the former with a ‘traumatic brain injury’.

Perez also became involved in a verbal exchange with journalist David Sanchez de Castro of ABC over the newspaper’s coverage of Real Madrid, before insisting: “It was my father who subscribed me [to ABC], and I am cancelling it in his honour.”

In a follow-up interview with Josep Pedrerol of El Chiringuito on Wednesday, Perez said he was “surprised” by the media reaction to the press conference, before confirming he hadn’t read ABC’s coverage of the madcap nonsense.

“No. The last time I read it was yesterday when, before going into the press conference, I saw a headline saying I was tired. If I’m tired, it’s from working. But what they want to convey is that I’m exhausted, that I’m sick. And it’s very difficult to deal with those rumors and with the media outlets that are saying that.”

Referring to two recent articles published by ABC about the club in the press conference, Pérez said: “One of them was written by a woman. I don’t know if she knows anything about football.”

Pointing to another journalist, he said: “That girl there, ask a question. The rest of you are very ugly.”

ABC described them as “outrageous attacks” intended to “cover up the club’s failures”, while Spain’s most listened-to radio station, Cadena SER, said Perez’s comments reflected his “arrogance and sexism”.

On being labeled a sexist, Perez said: “She explained it, it had nothing to do with me. Everyone knows me by now. The poor girl was raising her hand, and the person in charge of giving her the floor wouldn’t let her speak. Is saying ‘this girl’ considered derogatory? We’re blowing this way out of proportion.”

Mourinho, Mbappe and Haaland…

Perez was then asked about reports claiming Real Madrid are closing in on the appointment of Jose Mourinho and denied any involvement in that decision.

“I like all coaches,” he said. “He was with us; he raised our competitiveness. It’s not true that I’m the one who hires the coaches.

“Enough already with Mourinho. I didn’t even speak to him when he came here (for the Champions League match against Benfica).”

Perez then confirmed that “I go after” the best players, reeling off the list of star-studded names “I signed” before U-turning mid sentence with regard to Haaland and reports of strong interest in the City striker, claiming such things aren’t in fact in his remit.

“We’ve always signed players; we’ve always signed the best,” Perez said. “I signed Figo, Kaká, Ronaldo ‘The Fat One,’ Beckham… When there’s a good one out there, I go after him.

“Haaland? I don’t have an opinion on that. That’s the sports management’s job; I don’t get involved in sports management.”

The Real Madrid chief also responded to suggestions that star striker Kylian Mbappe may not be as committed to the club as the fans – millions of whom petitioned for his exit – would like.

“Mbappé is a player who’s with Real Madrid right now,” Perez said. “He’s won the Golden Boot, it’s not for lack of scoring goals. But there are areas that need improvement.”

And with fierce rivals Barcelona threatening legal action after Perez called out their corruption in his press conference, the president was asked about his relationship with the Catalan club before doubling down on his unsubstantiated claim.

He added: “Completely over. I don’t want to have anything to do with a club that has been bribing referees for two decades. I want the justice system to take action.”