Chelsea loan army: Keep, loan or sell? Baba Rahman (Part 11)
In Part 10 of this series, I broke down Victor Moses’ career at Chelsea and discussed what his future in football looks like. For those who haven’t read the introductory piece to this series, a different player will be the subject of a new article every day. I began with goalkeepers and am currently in the process of working my way up the pitch, with each position group being sorted in order by the way in which they appear on the club’s website.
As I move on with the loan army series, I continue the deep dive into the defensive loanees with Baba Rahman. Rahman is one of the names many Blues fans know, but few know much about the defender outside of this. His story is one of a meteoric rise through the ranks of world football. Although he may not have had the flashiest career up to this point, making it to Chelsea in and of itself is a massive achievement for the Ghanian defender.
What does Baba Rahman’s Chelsea career look like?
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To give you an idea of how small the club Rahman began his career with is, we’re going to discuss their online presence. Young Meteors FC is where the defender first played as a young footballer in his home town of Tamale, Ghana. Young Meteors FC is such a minuscule club that it has no Wikipedia page and the club’s unofficial Facebook page has just 628 followers. Rahman is the pride and joy of his boyhood club, which displays the defender’s introductory picture at Cobham as their profile photo. Young Meteors is the epitome of the true beauty of football and true passion of its fans.
Rahman spent six years with Young Meteors before making a move to Dreams FC of Ghana’s second division. His impressive performances with Dreams saw him transfer to Asante Kotoko of the Ghanian Premier League for the 2011/12 campaign. He made his debut in professional football with Asante Kotoko, and even found himself up for the league’s “Discovery of the Year” award. It was here he caught the attention of some of Europe’s biggest clubs from England, Germany and Italy.
Despite interest from Arsenal and Manchester City, Rahman decided a move to Greuther Furth, recently promoted to the Bundesliga, was best for his career. Furth was relegated after one season in the German top flight, but Rahman stayed with the club through the next campaign before signing with FC Augsburg. The fullback played in 32 matches with the German side during the 2014/15 season. He led the Bundesliga in total tackles (108) and won an astonishing 83 percent of those challenges. To add to his impressive campaign, Rahman had 83 interceptions and won 80 contested challenges in the air. These astonishing statistics were eye-popping to Chelsea.
Rahman made the move to London’s biggest club at the beginning of the 2015/16 season for an undisclosed fee. He capitalized on injuries and poor performances around him, making 23 total appearances in his first season, including Champions League fixtures against Paris Saint-Germain, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Dynamo Kiev. Rahman, unlike Moses on the opposite flank, failed to impress new Blues boss Antonio Conte the following year and was subsequently sent out on his first loan to FC Schalke 04.
The Ghanian’s return to Germany started off with a bang. He made 15 appearances in the first half of the season before departing to play in the Africa Cup of Nations. It was there he suffered an injury to his ACL, which ended his season. He returned to Cobham for treatment. Rahman eventually found his way back to Schalke after recovering, but only managed to play in five matches upon his return. He then was sent out on loan to Reims to see out the remainder of the 2018/19 season. Rahman played in 11 contests in Ligue 1, managing to score a goal and register an assist in nearly 1,000 minutes.
Rahman was loaned out again upon his return from Reims, this time to Real Mallorca of La Liga. His time in Spain was cut short after just three appearances when injury struck the left back once again. After rehabbing and playing in a handful of games for Chelsea’s developmental sides, the 26-year-old was loaned out to PAOK. He’s played in nine games for the Greek club since January, helping them to third in Greece’s Super League. Rahman’s loan expires at the end of the season.
This begs the question: what does Chelsea do with Rahman this summer?
Verdict: Sell
At 26, Rahman still has a lot of career left. He’s an insanely gifted left back, as displayed when healthy. The Ghanian possesses a lot of abilities, but lacks the most important one—availability. Injuries have effectively derailed Rahman’s career up to this point, but there’s still a lot of hope left for a relatively young player. He needs to establish himself at one club and focus on staying healthy. If he can do this, Rahman can become a staple in the starting XI of a talented European side. His contract expires in 2022, so it would be in the Blues’ best interest to sell Rahman while they still can. Regardless of what Chelsea decides to do with Rahman upon his return, I think I speak for all Blues supporters when I say I’ll be cheering him on wherever he goes; he is a true inspirational figure.
dark. Next. Chelsea loan army: Keep, loan or sell? Victor Moses (Part 10)
Remember to check back with The Pride of London each and every day as I dive into the largely uncharted world of Chelsea’s famous loan army. Part 12’s subject is defender Malang Sarr.