Baba Rahman set to join Mallorca on loan — reports

As deadline day approaches, Chelsea are putting the finishing touches in assembling a loan army for the 2019-20 season.

While we boasted of gargantuan loan armies in the past, often going past the 40-player mark, this season the battalion is set to be much smaller at around 25-30 players (we currently have 23 out on loan), which may or may not have something to do with FIFA’s planned loan regulations.

The latest as well as probably the last player linked with a move away in this transfer window is Baba Rahman. Ghana Sports Online are running a story about La Liga club Mallorca being interested in the left-back’s services, with GhanaWeb going as far as to claim he is already travelling to Spain to have his medical.

Apparently, Baba as well as Chelsea have already agreed the terms of the deal with the Spanish outfit, so the deal is expected to go through quite soon. The story has since been picked up by sources closer to home, so the veracity can be well verified. While the original rumour doesn’t stipulate whether the deal will be temporary or permanent, The Athletic journalist Liam Twomey has confirmed that it will in fact be a loan stint.

Baba’s career hasn’t exactly gone as planned since Chelsea bought him in 2015 after his growing reputation as one of Bundesliga’s best. A torn ACL has caused his game-play to regress and a subsequent one-and-a-half season loan spell at Schalke in 2016 hadn’t helped, owing to the Ghanian’s recurring injuries.

The 25 year-old did marginally better at his Reims stint last season, but his actual potential was exhibited at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations, where he was one of the best players in the competition. At Mallorca, Baba will compete with fellow Ghanaian left-back Lumor, who’s also on loan for the season from Sporting CP.