On May 23, 2015, Sami Khedira gave an emotional farewell to Real Madrid.

He had been at the club since a call from Jose Mourinho led to his signing from Bundesliga club Stuttgart, after starring for Germany at the 2010 World Cup.

The Portuguese coach was then preparing for his first season as Madrid manager. When he returned for a second spell this summer, he again called up Khedira. Now 39, the former midfielder is back at the Bernabeu as part of the assistant coaching team, having once more been headhunted by the 63-year-old.

During Mourinho’s first meetings with the Madrid board in May, before his appointment was made official on June 11, he said he wanted to bring in someone who could act as a link between him and the squad — ideally someone with knowledge of how the club works and the standards expected.

This is of particular importance at Madrid given the breakdown in harmony over last season — a situation that dramatically escalated with the dressing-room fight between Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde in the build-up to El Clasico against Barcelona in May.

“Mourinho wanted someone who was charismatic and had a strong presence in the dressing room,” says a source with knowledge of the situation, speaking anonymously as they did not have permission to comment, like all those cited here.

Khedira won seven titles in his five years at the Bernabeu — including a La Liga title, the 2013-14 Champions League and two Copas del Rey — appearing in 161 competitive matches. He was a regular during Mourinho’s three seasons in charge. One player from that time recalls his “cool demeanour”, adding that he “already possessed that leadership quality of giving instructions and organising the team”.

The midfielder was one of those players who showed extra commitment to improving his game, and who was especially attentive to analysis sessions and opposition reports at a time when this was not as widespread as it is now. A source close to Mourinho says the coach admired the former Germany international’s “strong character and will to win”.

Sami Khedira played under Jose Mourinho during his first spell at Real Madrid (David R. Anchuelo/Real Madrid via Getty Images)

The role he has now at Madrid is his first in coaching. In a 2024 interview with AS, Khedira said that despite obtaining his coaching licence, he saw himself as being better suited to a football administration role “developing long-term strategies within a club or federation”. But sources close to him say that “with this combination — Jose and Real Madrid — you cannot say no. He didn’t think about it for a second”.

Mourinho brought other assistant coaches with him from his previous job at Benfica, including Joao Tralhao and Pedro Machado. Khedira has a support role, playing an active part in organising drills and developing training sessions.

But he has other responsibilities that are focused on improving the group dynamic and standards within the team.

Khedira is fully aware of the demands placed on Madrid players, which he spoke about in an interview with German outlet Kicker in 2017, as his Juventus team prepared to face the Spanish club in the Champions League final (which Madrid won 4-1).

“At Madrid, the managers appreciated me and treated me 100 per cent fairly, but in the public eye I never got that recognition,” he said.

“If I played 10 good matches, that was to be expected, but if the 11th wasn’t so good, the criticism came straight away and people started questioning whether I was good enough for Madrid. It really got on your nerves.”

At his first pre-match press conference of the new season on August 21 (which served as an unofficial introduction for Mourinho, given no presentation was held — despite Madrid’s longstanding tradition of doing so), Mourinho said Khedira was “a great asset to his team”.

He added: “He’s a good link with the players; he’s played here before and knows the mentality. He has the relationship — I wouldn’t say a ‘good’ one, but the relationship an assistant needs to have with the players.”

A Madrid first-team player, meanwhile, told The Athletic: “Training sessions are led more by the coach, but Sami prepares a lot of things, gives his opinion and is highly respected by everyone.”

Other voices close to the players described Khedira as “an advisor” to the team, with one adding: “When he needs to show character, he does.”

“As he’s still in good physical shape, he takes part in some drills, and some players joke with him, saying he could still play for the team,” said a source familiar with Madrid’s training sessions.

Sami Khedira, right, with the rest of Jose Mourinho’s coaching staff (Antonio Villalba/Real Madrid via Getty Images)

After leaving Madrid, Khedira moved to Juventus, where he spent five and a half seasons before retiring at the end of 2020-21 at Hertha Berlin. He did not cross paths with his former coach, but the two kept in touch — and Khedira has often shown his affection for Madrid and Mourinho on social media.

Following his retirement, Khedira spent several years working as a pundit and commentator in Germany. At that press conference on August 21, Mourinho said Khedira told him in their call during the World Cup that he would be ready to start the very next day at Madrid, if he were needed, despite being at the tournament in North America in an official capacity with FIFA.

Khedira began work at Madrid in early July. Players who did not participate in the World Cup were due back on July 13, with others returning later, depending on how far their national teams had progressed at the tournament.

With Khedira, Mourinho has brought back a role he was the first to introduce. When he arrived in 2010, former Madrid defender Aitor Karanka, now the Spanish football federation’s technical director of development, joined his staff.

This continued after Carlo Ancelotti’s arrival in 2013. The Italian was assisted by Zinedine Zidane in his first season and another of the club’s legendary former players, Fernando Hierro, in his second.

In an interview with Marca in 2021, Khedira said he thought it was a joke when he was told Mourinho wanted to call him after the 2010 World Cup. He described Mourinho as “the best thing that ever happened to me”.

Now, after the 2026 World Cup, they are back together again.