Hertha Berlin signs Sami Khedira from Juventus

Mon, Feb 1, 2021
By CIARAN FAHEY (AP Sports Writer)

BERLIN (AP) - Hertha Berlin brought back World Cup winner Sami Khedira to the Bundesliga after 10 1/2 seasons away on Monday.

The 33-year-old former Germany midfielder was joining the club from Juventus, Hertha said on the last day of the winter transfer period. Hertha did not give the length of Khedira's contract nor any other financial details of the deal.

German media said it was a loan deal to the end of the season. Tabloid Bild reported Khedira was set to earn around 2 million euros ($2.4 million) for the remaining 15 rounds of the league.

Khedira, who won the World Cup with Germany in 2014, also reportedly had offers from England, but he joins big-spending Hertha despite its struggles in the Bundesliga. Only goal difference is keeping Hertha out of the relegation zone after 19 rounds.

Hertha was targeting European qualification in its second season since investor Lars Windhorst started backing the club in June 2019. The financier has pledged 374 million euros ($450 million) to Hertha altogether, but a host of signings have failed to make their mark.

Khedira rose to prominence at Stuttgart then joined Real Madrid in 2010. He spent five seasons at the Spanish giant and joined Juventus in 2015.

Khedira has barely played in the last year, however. His last competitive appearance for Juventus was last June 12 in a cup tie against Milan. His previous appearance was in November 2019.

Hertha also signed Serbian winger Nemanja Radonjic on loan with an option to buy from Marseille. The 24-year-old Radonjic scored seven times in 50 French league games since switching in 2018 from Red Star Belgrade.

City rival Union Berlin signed 22-year-old Croatian forward Petar Musa on loan from Slavia Prague. Musa scored 11 in 35 games for the six-time Czech champion.

Also, Eintracht Frankfurt signed the highly rated 18-year-old Turkish forward Ali Akman from Bursaspor, and Hoffenheim signed American defender Chris Richards on loan from Bayern Munich to the end of the season. The 21-year-old Richards knows Hoffenheim coach Sebastian Hoeneß from their time together at Bayern's reserve team.

___

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

___

Ciaran Fahey on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cfaheyAP