Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira's thigh injury was missed by doctors at the club, German FA (DFB) technical director Oliver Bierhoff has told AS.
- Honigstein: Low needs to rebuild
- Media Reaction: "Four star failures"
Khedira, who opted to stay at the Spanish giants during the transfer window despite claiming he could leave, appeared as a late substitute in Madrid's 4-2 loss at Real Sociedad last Sunday, then travelled to Germany to play in Wednesday's friendly with Argentina in Dusseldorf.
However, before he even trained, he was immediately ruled out of the game with his national team's doctors saying he had a muscle tear which would rule him out of action for some weeks.
Madrid's subsequent medical update on their player stated that the injury had occurred "during his time with the German national team" but Bierhoff insists that the midfielder was already injured before he arrived to join the world champions.
"The player had problems already when he travelled," he claimed. "Plus, he was examined in Madrid. The doctors there did not consider it such a dramatic injury. After that, Khedira decided to go to a trusted doctor here, [Hans-Wilhelm] Muller-Wohlfarth, who diagnosed a muscle tear."
Last November Khedira suffered a serious knee injury playing with Germany in a friendly, and underwent surgery in his home country overseen by Muller-Wohlfarth, with Madrid reportedly receiving compensation of about 2.5 million euros under FIFA's Club Protection Programme.
This apparent disagreement follows other reported differences of opinion regarding injuries suffered by Madrid players. The club has rarely issued official medical bulletins detailing Cristiano Ronaldo's ongoing knee issue, amid reports of disagreements between the club's medical staff and Ronaldo's own personal doctors. There were also conflicting reports over the seriousness of Gareth Bale's back problem throughout the 2013-14 season.
According to AS the root of much of these disagreements is "serious conflict" between Sanitas, a big private health provider which has a commercial arrangement with the club, and other senior medical figures at the club.
Other Blancos players including Angel Di Maria, Jese Rodriguez, Gonzalo Higuain, Kaka, Pepe and Raphael Varane have also travelled from Madrid to undergo operations in other countries during recent seasons.