Florentino Perez has sensationally been accused of disliking black players by Iker Casillas’ agent Santos Marquez, who insists the Real Madrid president ‘is not racist’, expects Perez to leave Real over the saga of
Casillas’ departure and has hit out at his behaviour in an interview with Spanish paper AS.
Marquez, who also confirmed that Casillas turned down a number of Premier League offers to join Porto, accuses the president of having not ‘utter[ed] one single truth in many years’ in an ugly conclusion to his client’s long Bernabeu career.
“He hasn’t uttered one single truth in years. What he says is his truth, and that is the same as preaching,” Marquez said. “He kicked out the best people he has ever known.
“He thinks of himself as Madrid’s god but he only causes unrest. Those long-distance tours … it’s madness, they really take it out of the players … Before, nobody spoke out of courtesy and education and now no one speaks out because he’s made them slaves.”
FIFA agent Marquez, who has also represented Claude Makelele, says his relationship with Perez first broke down over the midfielder’s transfer to Chelsea in 2004. Asked why his working relationship with Perez ended, Marquez said:
“For Makelele, for a lack of respect. Florentino doesn’t like black players; he’s not a racist but he doesn’t like them.
“I also fought with him over Eto’o. Samuel was just as much a galactico as [Luis] Figo. He left for the colour of his skin.”
The galactico culture of buying the world’s top players for huge fees has long been a topic of interest at Real, and Marquez says the resulting dynamic of favourites within the dressing room has led to an ‘ugly’ situation.
Welsh winger Gareth Bale – backed to play in a No 10 role next season – is one of those said to be given special treatment by the 68-year-old president.
‘The squad knows who they (Perez’s players) are and so does the coach. The only clash he had with (former coach Carlo) Ancelotti was over Bale,’ Marquez told AS.
“He doesn’t know how to take care of the Ballon d’Or winner [Cristiano Ronaldo] which he already has in the squad. Bale is going to play wherever he likes. Another is [Karim] Benzema. He got rid of [Gonzalo] Higuain, [Angel] Di Maria, [Vicente] Del Bosque … none of whom were that bad, Del Bosque has won everything there is to win but what happened to him is what happened to me – he’s a not exactly a looker.
“So Florentino brought in a handsome bloke [Carlos Queiroz] who almost ruined the team.”‘
