Abdul Rahman Baba, the Ghanaian left-back playing for FC Augsburg, has been linked with a move to Premier League champions Chelsea. Would it be a good signing?
Abdul Rahman Baba, the left-back playing for Bundesliga side FC Augsburg, has been heavily linked with a move to Premier League champions Chelsea FC. But would he be a good signing?
Some difficulties at the start
Baba moved from his home country Ghana to (at that time) Bundesliga side Greuther Fürth in summer 2012 with just 18 years. He had some difficulties to accustom himself to the completely new situation, only playing three games in the first half of the 2012/13 Bundesliga campaign.
But during the winter break he seemed to have flipped the switch and made 17 appearances with 16 of them over the full distance. Despite his good performances, Greuther Fürth were relegated to 2. Bundesliga, but Baba kept playing and then moved to Augsburg in summer 2014.
His first goals in professional European football
Just before his move to Augsburg he contributed two goals for Fürth in the 2. Bundesliga – which started earlier than Bundesliga – 5-1 win against 1. FC Nürnberg.
This season, he only missed three games for Augsburg due to the African cup of nations in February this year. For the rest of the games, he almost always played the full distance, with only two games coming from the bench.
A massive change A move to Chelsea, the actual champions in England, would still be a massive change for the 20-year-old. Baba is without question a very solid and talented left-back, but he hasn’t proven his performances on an international level.
He has without a doubt the potential to get better, but it is questionable if a move to Chelsea would be a good step in his development. He will have to win recognition as a left-back against international experienced players like César Azpilicueta who has made ten international appearances for Spain thus far and Filipe Luis, who played the Copa América with Brazil the last weeks.
For Chelsea, is it also questionable if a third left-back is really needed or if it would only be one of the"typical" talented players that Chelsea likes to sign but who don't manage to make the breakthrough.
Staying at Augsburg would be better
Summing up, it would maybe be better for Baba to stay at Augsburg to ensure regular first-team action before moving to another, greater club. Many examples have shown that moving to another club prematurely can be bad for the player's development.