Even if Khedira has struggled with injuries over the last seasons, he can still boast both the title of Champions League winner- and world champion. Recently, Joltter met up with Khedira for a chat about football at the Nike Academy in St. George's Park in England. Check out the full interview right here.

Sami Khedira really put his name on the football map at the World Cup in 2010, where he helped Germany take the third spot. Since then, Khedira went to Real Madrid, where he has been very successful although injuries have limited him. Therefore, the German born Tunisian surely knows all about hard work and how much it means.

It was with great pleasure that Joltter had the opportunity to speak to Khedira, as he visited the Nike Academy in St. Geroge's park. It quickly became clear that Khedira is not only a gifted footballer, but he also has a determined and humble personality, who is not looking for short cuts and easy solutions – As Khedira puts it:

“Hard work is a part of my life. I don't do it for my coaches, I don't do it for my family. I do it for myself,“ and continues “ But I still want to maintain the art of saying: 'No, these are not complaints. Even if it hurts here and there, I want to be professional about it.'Because if you do that, you develop new limits and can reach new phases in your own professionalism, and I think it's very important to keep working hard even if you don't feel so well.”

Khedira has pretty much won everything that you can possibly win within football and you may wanna ask if he thinks that he now has won enough. This would be something that we have seen in football before. But for Khedira, stopping to rest his on his laurels is not even an option; because it is exactly when you are on top that the hard work really starts:

“It's great to win a title, especially when you've won the biggest ones like the Champions League and World Cup. It fills you with pride – but if you say to yourself 'Now I'm satisfied' then you might as well just end your football career today; because if you don't have this constant desire to keep proving yourself to others, to yourself, your teammates, the coaches or the fans; the desire to prove that you can play on a certain level... Then you've already lost. I think it's relatively easy to get to the top but the hard part is to stay there and keep your position at the top and that's the main reason that drives me every day.”

Sami Khedira is not necessarily the player that you see the most in the media or does the most spectacular actions on the pitch, but there is not doubt that the German is an inspiring footballers, who many will have a lot to learn from. Where do you find the inspiration needed to make it to the top, and stay there?