Benfica have been sent a worrying warning should Real Madrid’s elections go awry on Sunday.
Florentino Perez is facing off against Enrique Riquelme, a challenge he almost certainly didn’t expect, nor think it would be so close.
The polls are tightening as the date draws in, and although Perez is still very likely to win, some of his choices of deals, including signing Jose Mourinho, haven’t been popular.
Perez has announced Mourinho as his coach for next season, but there’s a snag, he’s still employed by Benfica.
Mourinho had a 10-day window in his two-year Benfica contract that allowed any team to sign him for €3million, but Madrid missed it due to Perez’s election call.
Madrid have since agreed to pay €15m for the second year of his contract, but should the improbably happen and Riquelme win, he’s made it clear Mourinho won’t be his coach.
Benfica could be in trouble if Perez loses the election
That then becomes a problem for Benfica, with Mourinho still under contract, and the Eagles negotiating a deal with Marco Silva from Fulham.
In such a case, Mourinho could well demand payment from Benfica to cancel the second year of his contract.
The editor of leading Portuguese outlet Record, Valter Marques, explained: “Jose Mourinho is Benfica’s coach. He has a contract with Benfica.
“He shouldn’t be serving as an electoral tool – or at least his image shouldn’t be used as an electoral asset, given everything we know.
“Because there are also elections that Florentino Perez needs to win. And if he doesn’t win them, this story may not end here.
“It’s possible that Mourinho could even demand compensation from Benfica to break this connection.”
He continued: “After everything that has happened, it seems to me that Mourinho’s demands would not be excessively high.
“I don’t know how far he would take things, but I believe – and he’s already hinted at this, he’s already conveyed this message through his agents – that if Florentino Perez does not win the election, then on Monday Mourinho could simply show up at Benfica Campus because he still has a contract with Benfica.”
Explaining how Benfica and president Rui Costa will have reacted to Madrid’s announcment, he added: “It’s natural that Rui Costa feels very uncomfortable about all of this.
“You wouldn’t want to see one of your employees, someone whose salary you pay, wearing another club’s shirt – even if the image was created with artificial intelligence.
“However, it seems obvious to all of us that Jose Mourinho would have known that this was eventually going to appear as part of Florentino Perez’s election campaign.
“One would hope he informed Benfica. Apparently, he didn’t.”
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