Khedira Joins Real Madrid, But Can He Cut It At The Bernabeu?

Khedira Joins Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid.

Stuttgart’s Sami Khedira caught the atten­tion of Euro­pean giants Real Madrid after a very suc­cess­ful World Cup tour­na­ment, where the young mid­fielder impressed with bat­tling dis­plays in mid­field. Now, he has com­pleted a move to the Bern­abeu for a reported 15 mil­lion Euros.

At first glance, many will sim­ply con­grat­u­late Khedira on secur­ing a move to one of the most dec­o­rated clubs in the game. They will also praise the fact that Khedira will now be sur­rounded by some of the great­est play­ers in the world, includ­ing Cris­tiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Xabi Alonso, Ser­gio Ramos, Iker Casil­las and many oth­ers. Fans may also say that with Khedira’s move to Madrid, he will improve as a player under the tute­lage of the world-class coach­ing of Jose Mourinho.

While all this may be true, it is also true that Khedira’s career could poten­tially be harshly ham­pered after secur­ing a move to Spain with Real Madrid. First, he will be bat­tling for a first-team spot with the likes of Xabi Alonso, Las­sana Diarra, Fer­nando Gago and Este­ban Granero. None of these play­ers are at all second-rate. And, at Khedira’s rel­a­tively young age, a few faulty games when he is given the chance to impress could mean Khedira will be rid­ing the bench until fur­ther notice.

The point can be made that Khedira will take in a new type of foot­ball at Real Madrid with Jose Mour­inho, and that when he rep­re­sents Ger­many he will only add to their already stel­lar tac­ti­cal setup, but it could also serve to dam­age Khedira on the inter­na­tional stage. Before the World Cup ended, every player in the Ger­man 23-man squad were play­ing their club foot­ball in Ger­many. I believe that this has some­thing to do with the way they got their heads down and dis­ci­plined them­selves and were so ruth­less and fear­less dur­ing their World Cup run. But, with play­ers mov­ing away from Ger­many and adding new aspects to their game, this could take away from what has made them the play­ers they are.

Though, should Khedira impress at the Bern­abeu along­side Xabi Alonso, he will go on to great things. Under the tute­lage and the pres­tige of a world-class man­ager like Jose Mour­inho, we may be see­ing an absolute gem of a mid­fielder as he matures at Real Madrid. But, if he fails to set­tle in imme­di­ately and begin to make an impact, he will be brushed aside and some­one else, likely Gago or Diarra, will be brought in to take his place. The harsh real­ity at a mas­sive club like Real Madrid, like Chelsea, like Man­ches­ter United, for exam­ple, is that if a player does not make the impact he should make, then another player will be brought into the team to do that job.

The pres­sure, then, is cer­tainly on Khedira now. He joins Real Madrid with the rep­u­ta­tion he gained after part­ner­ing Bas­t­ian Schwe­in­steiger in Germany’s mid­field. Let’s hope he set­tles in at the Bern­abeu in Madrid as well as he set­tled in under Joachim Loew in South Africa.