Germany has seen some iconic Ghanaian players in history such as the scorer of wonderful goals Tony Yeboah and the champions league winners Samuel Osei Kuffour and Ibrahim Tanko but ahead of the opening match-day of the 2018/19 Bundesliga season we focus on the Ghanaian international of Schalke 04, Baba Abdul Rahman.
Baba, the biggest player the Ghanaians side Dreams FC has ever brought to global prominence, is starting his third loan spell at the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen from Chelsea.
Many young talents have been lucky to be signed by the London giants but few have been lucky enough to go on to be important first team first teams at the Stamford Bridge. Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne giant killers today but unlucky enough at Chelsea.
But will Baba Rahman ever return to Chelsea to be a key player of the Bridge?
It all depends on what he achieves during this loan spell in Germany. Well. One knows that the 24-year old left back is no stranger in the Bundesliga. His fierce pace and skill during his time with Greuther Furth and Augsburg in the German topflight forced English side Chelsea to dole out a reported £14 million to sign him in August 2015 in a five-year deal.
At Chelsea there was big competition at the left back role with the tough Spanish Cezar Azpilicueta but Baba still made 19 starts in all competitions under Jose Mourinho and caretaker coach Guus Hiddink in the 2015/16 season. This meant the former Dreams FC full-back look elsewhere for more game time something he found at where it all started for him in Europe.
However series of injuries threatened to disturb the progress and development of the talented footballer as he appeared in just 13 league matches last season for the Royal Blues but Baba, who also played for Asante Kotoko in the past, beamed with confidence before the end of last season and is eager to come better this campaign.
“The injury doesn’t give me anymore problems, it doesn’t hurt me anymore and even mentally it doesn’t affect me.” he told Schalke’s official website in an interview back in February.
Schalke manager Coach Domenico Tedesco was also positive about the Ghanaian ahead of the weekend’s opener away at Wolfsburg.
“Ahead of the Wolfsburg game, however, we are unfortunately still waiting on his ( new signing Hamza) documents from the embassy. But there’s no worry there, as Baba Rahman did very well the last time [against Schweinfurt].” Tedesco said.
This was after Rahman played 90 minutes helping Schalke beat Schweinfurt 2-0 on the road in the Round of 32 of the DFP Pokal last Friday.
At 24, Rahman is entering the period that he will no longer be excused as a young talent and lot will depend on what he does this season. Hopefully big things but he knows he must fight for that. This will determine largely where he goes from this Schalke 04 loan stint.