Official: Baba Rahman joins PAOK after leaving Chelsea

Abdul Rahman Baba has left Chelsea many times before, spending the last seven years out on loan at various teams all around Europe, but today the he officially left for the last time, joining PAOK in Thessaloniki, Greece on a three-year contract.

Baba had terminated his Chelsea contract, which had one year left on it still, by mutual agreement last week to enable the move.

The 29-year-old Ghana international joined Chelsea way back in 2015, on the back of an excellent season at Augsburg in the Bundesliga, and while he would go on to feature 23 times in all competitions in what was one of our worst seasons in modern times (only outdone by the season just past), that would turn out to be the entirety of his actual Chelsea career.

The left wing-back, jettisoned by Antonio Conte before switching to the 3-4-3 that would’ve been well suited to his talents, joined Schalke 04 on loan before a series of knee injuries derailed his career. Loan spells with mixed results at Reims (France), Málaga (Spain), and PAOK followed as he finished his recovery. He had spent the past two years on loan at Reading, where he found his feet and proved himself a solid Championship-level player. Now he returns to PAOK, who are fairly excited by his arrival, if the tweets are any indication.

Good luck, Baba!