3. Sami Khedira (Real Madrid)
Another candidate for improving Chelsea’s midfield was a player Mourinho knows well from his time at Real Madrid, German international anchor-man Sami Khedira. The 26-year-old seemed likely to leave the Bernabeu this summer, attracting interest from French giants PSG as well as Chelsea, and would probably have welcomed the chance to work with Mourinho again at Stamford Bridge.
Like De Rossi, Khedira is primarily a defensive midfield player, but is also more than capable of being a good box-to-box player, as he showed with a decent return of four goals and five assists for Real last term. In the end, it is unclear why his move to Chelsea could not go through, and he now claims he is happy to have stayed at the Bernabeu.