Hired for the dressing room, not the training pitch
Sami Khedira has returned to Real Madrid this summer. Not as a player, but as part of Jose Mourinho’s staff. According to The Athletic, the Portuguese coach was determined to add a former club figure to his backroom team.
The brief was clear. He wanted someone with presence, someone the players would actually listen to, after the tension that ripped through the Madrid dressing room last season. Khedira was the quick pick.
The German is 39. He plans sessions and sets up drills, but the job goes well beyond the grass. Inside the club he is seen as a sounding board for the squad, tasked with improving the group dynamic and reminding players what the badge demands. “When he needs to show some backbone, he does,” a source close to the dressing room told the English outlet.
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Sixteen years after the first call
The bond between the two men is nothing new. Mourinho first brought Khedira in from Stuttgart in 2010, straight after the World Cup. The German went on to play 161 matches in a Real Madrid shirt.
Back then the Portuguese admired his steel and his hunger to win. They kept in touch after both left Madrid, each going their own way. Now they are back together, with the roles flipped.
Khedira has said in the past that Mourinho was “the best thing that ever happened to me”.
From boardroom ambitions to a tracksuit
The return has raised eyebrows. Khedira retired in 2021 and this is his first coaching role. As recently as 2024 he was saying he saw himself in an executive position, working on long-term strategy.
Mourinho’s call changed the script. “With an opportunity like this, it was impossible to turn it down. He did not hesitate for a second,” a close associate told the same outlet. The Portuguese is now counting on him to help rebuild a united dressing room.
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