Florentino Perez advisor made €10m commission from Barcelona deal | OneFootball

Real Madrid are in the heat of elections, with just three days to go before the next president of the club is decided. As such, both sides are keen to cast doubt on the leadership of the other, and it seems that Florentino Perez is being attacked for his relationship with Anas Laghrari.

The latter is an investment banker with a key role at Key Capital, an investment banking institution. Laghrari and Perez are considered close, and it is believed that he has been playing a role in Perez’s plans to sell off 5% of the club, and convert members into shareholders. Laghrari has also been cited as one of the few people that has an influence on the Real Madrid President.

Laghrari earned commission from Barcelona deal

Image via EFE

One of the areas that Perez’s rival, Enrique Riquelme, has attacked him on is his stance on Barcelona. Perez in the last year has voiced a desire to see through the Negreira case to the end, and with that, harsh punishment for their Catalan rivals. Yet it comes just two years after Perez declared that Real Madrid and Barcelona had to help each other.

During Barcelona’s infamous economic levers era, when they sold off 25% of their TV rights for La Liga for the next 25 years in exchange for €686m, Laghrari had a role. El Confidencial has revealed, as referenced by Marca, that Laghrari and his partner Alex Matitia received a commission in excess of €10.5m for their role in brokering that deal.

Why has Perez’s stance on Barcelona changed?

Image via Marca

Given the dramatic U-turn over the past 18 months, many have questioned Perez’s motives. He has claimed that beforehand, he was unaware of Barcelona’s role in the Negreira case, but the case became public 18 months before his statement that the two clubs should help each other. Much of the speculation has been that Barcelona’s decision to back out of the Superleague, a project led by the Clasico clubs, was the decisive factor.