Injured Chelsea left back attracting interest from clubs in England, Italy, Germany — report

Chelsea left back Baba Rahman, who spent most of the season on loan at Schalke 04, before tearing his ACL at the Africa Cup of Nations in January, is on the path to recovery and thus questions will have to start being answered with regards to his future. ACL injuries are often career-changing, and as we’re seeing in the case of Kurt Zouma, do take a lot of time to properly recover from. Baba should not be expected to contribute until halfway through next season, at the earliest.

Despite that, the 22-year-old is apparently attracting plenty of interest from clubs all around Europe, at least according to a report from Goal’s Nizaar Kinsella, though no decision will be made until after Baba can have a few discussions with Chelsea leadership after the end of the season.

Baba left Chelsea for Schalke last summer after being deemed too attacking for Conte’s liking, though that assessment may be open to re-interpretation now that we seem to have settled on wing-backs and three-man defenses for the foreseeable future. A few promising glimpses aside, Baba failed to impress as a left back in a back four, but his quickness, crossing, and attacking instincts could be useful in a more attacking role — provided he recovers well from the injury.

The Ghanian international joined Chelsea for £14m in 2015 (plus £8m in possible add-ons), and while he’s yet to justify that investment, he is still young and highly regarded for his time at Augsburg. He also has a contract with the club through the end of the 2019-2020 season, so there’s plenty of time for Chelsea to see how things develop. No need to cut our losses just yet.