Baba Rahman

Baba Rahman

Rahman with Greuther Fürth in 2012
Personal information
Full name Abdul Rahman
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 6
Youth career
Dreams FC
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2011–2012 Asante Kotoko 25 (0)
2012–2014 Greuther Fürth 44 (2)
2014–2015 Augsburg 31 (0)
2015– Chelsea 12 (0)
National team‡
2013 Ghana U20[2] 7 (0)
2014– Ghana 10 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 30 April 2016.
† Appearances (goals)

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 20:05, 21 August 2015 (UTC)

Abdul "Baba" Rahman (born 2 July 1994), is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a left back for English club Chelsea and 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 the newly promoted SpVgg 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

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 Kiev; 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 F.C. (PSG) in Chelsea's 2-1 Champions League defeat on February 16, 2016. Rahman was presented with this opportunity after the injuries of center 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 Mertro.co.uk.[16]

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 and Chelsea eventually won 2–1 at St. Mary's.[17]

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.[18] In the final against the Ivory Coast, Rahman scored in the penalty shootout in which his team lost 9–8.[19]

Personal life

Rahman has "Baba" on the back of his jersey, the name of his Chelsea-supporting father.[20]

Baba went to the prestigious Notre Dame Seminary Senior High School in Navrongo for his second cycle education

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 2 April 2016.[21]
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
Augsburg
2014–15 Bundesliga31000——310
2015–16 Bundesliga0010——10
Total 31010——320
Chelsea
2015–16 Premier League110[lower-alpha 2]04000170
Total 90404000170
Career total 842704020972
  1. ↑ All appearances in Bundesliga play-offs
  2. ↑ With 2 appearances in 2015–16 Football League Cup & 2015–16 FA Cup

International

As of match played 14 June 2015.[22]
Ghana national team
YearAppsGoals
201450
201580
Total140

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 2016-02-20.
  17. ↑ Sanghera, Mandeep (27 February 2016). "Southampton 1-2 Chelsea". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  18. ↑ "South Africa 1-2 Ghana". BBC Sport. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  19. ↑ Smith, Alan (8 February 2015). "Ivory Coast win the Africa Cup of Nations on penalties – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  20. ↑ Perrin, Charles (19 August 2015). "Revealed: Chelsea new boy Baba Rahman explains decision behind choosing shirt name". Daily Express. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  21. ↑ Baba Rahman profile at Soccerway. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  22. ↑ Baba Rahman at National-Football-Teams.com

External links

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