Official: Chelsea defender Baba Rahman re-joins Schalke 04 on loan

Chelsea left back Baba Rahman is finally getting close to making his return to football after spending the past year recovering from a torn ACL that he suffered at last year’s Africa Cup of Nations. This return however will not be taking place at Stamford Bridge, but rather at the Veltins-Arena, as Baba’s loan move back to Schalke 04 was confirmed today. The 23-year-old re-joins the Königsblauen for the next 18 months.

Baba arrived at Chelsea in the summer of 2015, joining the reigning Premier League champions following his breakout season in the Bundesliga with Augsburg. He struggled along with the rest of the squad through that next season but was deemed surplus to requirements by Antonio Conte at the start of 2016-17. Baba joined Schalke 04 on loan, where he rotated with future Arsenal left back Sead Kolasinac before suffering the aforementioned knee injury while playing for Ghana.

At this point, it will just be nice to see him return and play some competitive football. Hopefully the length of the loan will allow him to get settled, finish his recovery, and establish himself as a key player for Schalke for next season.

Good luck, Baba!

(Chelsea’s official announcement also confirms that last week, Nathan switched loans from Amiens, where he had made just 3 appearances in the first half of the season, to Belenenses in the Portuguese first division.)