Many familiar faces from the Bundesliga now play largely unnoticed by the German media abroad. Today in the spotlight: a former Schalke unlucky fellow, a former BVB crowd favorite, and part of the legendary Frankfurt buffalo herd.
If you want to fulfill your footballing dreams, you shouldn't switch to FC Schalke at the moment, after all, the miners are stumbling inexorably towards the 2nd Bundesliga. A few years ago the perspective was completely different. At that time, the Royal Blues played regularly in the European Cup and were in some way considered a showcase club.
This is one of the reasons why Abdul Rahman Baba had no problem in summer 2016 with leaving his club of choice, Chelsea, and after only one year in the Premier League, switching back to the Bundesliga, in which he had previously made a name for himself in the FC Augsburg jersey. Horror months at FC Schalke
Schalke was "a top club" with "great fans" and in a positive sense "completely different", the left-back raved about the miners at the time. But the perfect world was quickly over. In mid-January 2017, Baba had just returned from the exhausting Africa Cup, the shock followed. A cruciate ligament injury ended Baba's season and the loan to Gelsenkirchen prematurely.
Almost exactly twelve "rehab months" later, he made a second attempt at Schalke. But this attempt went even worse. This time Baba wasn't injured, he just played badly. So bad that he didn't make the team. The chapter "Schalke 2.0" ended after only six months.
In the past six months, the Ghanaian had a dreary existence in the U23 of Chelsea after two more loans to Reims and Mallorca. Until the traditional Greek club, PAOK Saloniki signed him during the winter transfer.