Real Madrid looks set to receive at least €2.5M ($3.3M) in FIFA compensation with midfielder Sami Khedira "likely to miss the rest of the season due to the serious knee injury picked up with Germany last weekend," according to Dermot Corrigan of ESPN. Khedira suffered tears to both his anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in Friday’s 1-1 friendly draw with Italy in Milan, "and now faces a race against time to recover in time for next summer’s World Cup." Under FIFA’s Club Protection Programme, introduced in June '12, "clubs are protected from paying the wages of players injured on international duty who are then out of action long term" -- with the payments beginning on the 29th day after the injury is suffered. AS calculated that Khedira earns €6M ($8M) a year, or €16,400 ($22,200) a day, or about €500,000 ($670,000) a month, while Marca's report puts the figure which the La Liga club will receive at €20,548 ($27,700) per day, or more than €600,000 ($810,000) a month. Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said Khedira's serious injury "may force him into a tactical rethink, but he is not planning to sign a replacement midfielder during the January window" (ESPN, 11/18).
