Baba Rahman

Baba Rahman

Rahman with Greuther Fürth in 2012
Personal information
Full name Abdul Rahman Baba
Date of birth (1994-07-02) 2 July 1994[1]
Place of birth Tamale, Ghana[2]
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Playing position Left back
Club information
Current team
 Chelsea
Number —
Youth career
2004–2010 Young Meteors Tamale
2010–2011 Dreams FC
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011–2012 → Asante Kotoko (loan) 25 (0)
2012–2014 Greuther Fürth 44 (2)
2014–2015 FC Augsburg 31 (0)
2015– Chelsea 15 (0)
2016–2017 → Schalke 04 (loan) 13 (0)
National team‡
2010–2012 Ghana U20[2] 9 (1)
2014– Ghana 24 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20 December 2016.
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17 January 2017

Abdul "Baba" Rahman (born 2 July 1994) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a left back for English club Chelsea and for the Ghana national team.

Beginning his career at Dreams FC, he played in the Ghanaian Premier League with Asante Kotoko. In 2012, he signed for Bundesliga club Greuther Fürth, where he spent two seasons. He then played for FC Augsburg before joining Chelsea in 2015 for a fee of £14 million, potentially rising to £22 million.

Rahman made his international debut in 2014 and was part of their squad which were runners-up at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

Club career

Ghana

Rahman began his career at Dreams FC of the Ghana Division Two. After impressive performances, he was then transferred on loan to Asante Kotoko of the Ghanaian Premier League for one season.[3]

For the 2012 season, Rahman was a finalist for the league's Discovery of the Year Award, eventually losing to Joshua Oniku.[4] After becoming a sought after player during his time with the Kumasi-based club, serious enquiries were made about the player by Manchester City and Arsenal of the Premier League and Parma of Serie A.[5]

Germany

However, Rahman eventually signed with newly promoted Greuther Fürth in the Bundesliga on 12 June 2012. Rahman stated that his decision to join Fürth was because the club offered, "the best conditions in which to develop my career."[3] In the derby against 1. FC Nürnberg on 11 August 2014 he scored his first two goals for Fürth in a 5–1 home victory.[6] The next day he signed with FC Augsburg of the same division.[7]

In Rahman's 2014/15 season with Augsburg, he made 108 tackles, more than any other player in the Bundesliga that season. Using aspects of his strength and pace, he was able to win 90 of those tackles, coming out to an 83% successful tackle rate. That season, Rahman also had 83 interceptions and won 80 contested aerial balls.[8]

Chelsea

2015–16 season

On 16 August 2015, Rahman signed for Chelsea on a five-year deal for an undisclosed fee, reported to be an initial £14 million, rising to a potential fee of almost £22 million.[9][10][11][12] He made his debut on 23 September in the third round of the League Cup, playing the full 90 minutes in a 4–1 win away to League One club Walsall.[13] He made his Premier League debut in a 2–0 win over Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge on 17 October.[14]

Rahman has played an important role at left back in a couple of Chelsea's victories including their 2–1 Champions League win over Dynamo Kyiv; Sportsmail's Bob Treasure said that Rahman "was very lively at left back" and that he "showed excellent anticipation to make a handful of interceptions and start attacking moves."[15] Rahman also played the full 90 minutes against French side Paris Saint-Germain in Chelsea's 2–1 Champions League defeat on 16 February 2016. Rahman was presented with this opportunity following the injuries to centre backs Kurt Zouma and John Terry. Although Chelsea failed to stop PSG from scoring twice, "Rahman looked like a class full back" according to Kristian Downer for Metro.co.uk.[16]

Baba Rahman playing for Chelsea in 2016

On 27 February, Rahman made an error which allowed Southampton's Shane Long to score in the 42nd minute; he was substituted for Kenedy at half time but Chelsea eventually won 2–1 at St. Mary's.[17]

Schalke 04 (loan)

On 2 August 2016, Schalke confirmed that Baba Rahman has moved on a season-long loan to the club after failing to impress the new Chelsea manager Antonio Conte during pre-season. Baba was given the number 14 jersey for the upcoming season. His return to Bundesliga links him back with former Augsburg manager, Markus Weinzierl.[18][19]

After the completion of this loan move, Rahman told the local paper Ruhr Nachrichten, Antonio Conte advised him to leave on loan because he was mainly focused on a defensive philosophy. With the defensive focus, Rahman was told his playing-time would be very limited due to his attacking-style.[20]

Rahman made his competitive debut for the Gelsenkirchen team on 20 August, as a winger instead of a defender in a 4–1 victory against FC 08 Villingen in the first round of the DFB-Pokal.[21] He made his league debut on 27 August, coming on for Sead Kolašinac in the 62nd minute of an eventual 1–0 loss at Eintracht Frankfurt on the first day of the season.[22] Rahman scored his first goal for Schalke on 15 September, the game's only in a Europa League victory at OGC Nice.[23]

International career

Rahman played every minute of Ghana's campaign at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea, providing the cross from which André Ayew headed in the winner against South Africa to win Group C.[24] In the final against the Ivory Coast, Rahman scored in the penalty shootout in which his team lost 9–8.[25]

Personal life

Rahman has "Baba" on the back of his jersey, the name of his Chelsea-supporting father.[26] Baba went to the prestigious Notre Dame Seminary Senior High School in Navrongo for his second cycle education. Baba has claimed that he wants to be a legend at Chelsea like the fellow Ghanaian Chelsea legend Michael Essien. In May 2016, Baba got married to his longtime childhood girlfriend, Selma, in their hometown of Tamale in northern Ghana.[27]

Career statistics

Club

As of 20 December 2016.[28]
Club statistics
Club Season League Cup Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Greuther Fürth
2012–13 Bundesliga20010——210
2013–14 2.Bundesliga22010—2[lower-alpha 1]0250
2014–15 2.Bundesliga2200——22
Total 44220—20482
FC Augsburg
2014–15 Bundesliga31000——310
2015–16 Bundesliga0010——10
Total 31010——320
Chelsea
2015–16 Premier League1504[lower-alpha 2]04000230
Schalke 04 (loan)
2016–17 Bundesliga130206100211
Career total 103290101201263
  1. ↑ All appearances in Bundesliga play-offs
  2. ↑ Two appearances in League Cup and two appearances in FA Cup

International

As of 17 January 2017.[29]
Ghana national team
YearAppsGoals
201450
2015100
201680
201710
Total240

References

  1. 1 2 "Premier League Player Profile Baba Rahman". Barclays Premier League. 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Abdul Rahman Baba". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  3. 1 2 "German club Greuther Furth beats Arsenal to sign Rahman". MTN Football. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  4. ↑ "Daniel Nii Adjei wins Player of the Season Award". GhanaWeb. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  5. ↑ "Arsenal, Man City deals loom for Kotoko left-back Abdul-Rahman". GhanaSoccerNet. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  6. ↑ "Doppelpacker Baba lässt das Kleeblatt tanzen". kicker.de. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  7. ↑ "Baba-Wechsel zum FCA perfekt". kicker.de. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  8. ↑ "Chelsea transfer news: Who is Baba Rahman?". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
  9. ↑ "Baba Rahman moves to Stamford Bridge from Augsburg". BBC Sport. 16 August 2015.
  10. ↑ "Rahman signs". Chelsea FC. 16 August 2015.
  11. ↑ "Baba moves to Chelsea". FC Augsburg. 16 August 2015.
  12. ↑ Dudko, James (16 August 2015). "Baba Rahman Completes Transfer to Chelsea from Augsburg". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  13. ↑ "Walsall 1-4 Chelsea". BBC Sport. 23 September 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  14. ↑ Dawkes, Phil (17 October 2015). "Chelsea 2-0 Aston Villa". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  15. ↑ "Chelsea 2-1 Dynamo Kiev PLAYER RATINGS". Mail Online. Retrieved 2016-02-13.
  16. ↑ Metro.co.uk, Kristian Downer for. "Five things we learned from Chelsea's Champions League defeat in Paris". Metro. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  17. ↑ Sanghera, Mandeep (27 February 2016). "Southampton 1-2 Chelsea". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  18. ↑ "Baba makes Schalke switch". www.chelseafc.com. Chelsea F.C. 2 August 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  19. ↑ "Abdul Rahman Baba joins S04 on loan". www.schalke04.de. FC Schalke 04. 2 August 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  20. ↑ Buczko, Stefan (3 August 2016). "Baba Rahman 'too attacking' for Chelsea manager Antonio Conte". ESPN.
  21. ↑ "Villingen 1-4 Schalke 04". Soccerway. 20 August 2016.
  22. ↑ "Frankfurt hold on to beat Schalke". Bundesliga. 27 August 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  23. ↑ "Nice 0-1 Schalke: Baba Rahman's late strike earns Schalke victory over Nice as Mario Balotelli fails to shine for Ligue 1 outfit". Daily Mail. 15 September 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  24. ↑ "South Africa 1-2 Ghana". BBC Sport. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  25. ↑ Smith, Alan (8 February 2015). "Ivory Coast win the Africa Cup of Nations on penalties – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  26. ↑ Perrin, Charles (19 August 2015). "Revealed: Chelsea new boy Baba Rahman explains decision behind choosing shirt name". Daily Express. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  27. ↑ "Baba Rahman Marries Childhood Girlfriend Salma". GhanaStar. 29 May 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  28. ↑ Baba Rahman at Soccerway. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  29. ↑ Baba Rahman at National-Football-Teams.com
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