Euro transfer news – Real make bid for new star Khedira
Published:Real Madrid have begun to flex their transfer muscles by making an €8million bid for Stuttgart midfielder Sami Khedira.
Jose Mourinho’s new team are Evens to wrestle back La Liga from their arch rivals Barcelona.
Khedira impressed for Germany at the World Cup with a string of mature displays which made a mockery of the suggestion that Michael Ballack’s injury would mean an early tournament exit.
The 23-year-old scored the winner in his nation’s third-place play-off victory over Uruguay and can play either in a holding role or as a box-to-box dynamo.
With just a year left on his contract Madrid are looking to test the German side’s resolve, but it is believed an offer closer to €15million is required.
Mourinho is said to want the move to go ahead and the Portuguese can start to impose his blueprint on the Los Blancos side with the purchase, which should cost half of what Steven Gerrard or Bastian Schweinsteiger would command.
A more structured look to the team, and midfield in particular, is needed if Real are to improve on six consecutive last-16 Champions League exits. They are 4/1 second-favourites to win the Champions League in 2010.
Khedira would work well in tandem with Xabi Alonso in the centre of the pitch, meaning current Real midfielders Diarras Lassana and Mahamadou could be on their way out of the Bernabeu.
For his part Schweinsteiger said yesterday that a move abroad “excites” him and that he is not “married” to Bayern Munich. The German giants are 14/1 to go one better than last year’s runners-up spot in the Champions League.
Elsewhere, Nigeria striker Obafemi Martins has completed his transfer to Russian champions Rubin Kazan on a three-year deal.
The former Newcastle United man will hope he can help his new side, who beat Barcelona 2-1 in the Nou Camp last year, to an unlikely Champions League triumph, which they are 100/1 to win.
Can Khedira reinforce Madrid’s midfield core? They are currently behind 3/1 favourites Barcelona in the market to win the Champions League. See the full Primera Liga market.
