Out-of-favour Chelsea defender set to depart the club on loan

Baba Rahman close to signing Greek side PAOK on a loan transfer from Chelsea this month

A report by Sport24 (h/t Football.london) states that Chelsea left-back Baba Rahman is close to signing PAOK on a loan deal this month, as an agreement has been reached.

The loan deal is said to be 6 months long. Rahman never settled down in the Chelsea squad ever since his £14million move from Augsburg in 2015.

He was sent out on loan multiple times. This would be his 5th loan spell at Chelsea. He was earlier temporarily sent out to Schalke 04 (twice), Stade Reims, as well as RCD Mallorca.

If this deal does get completed officially, it would be the first transfer conducted in the presence of new manager Thomas Tuchel. The 26-year-old left-back was not in Frank Lampard’s plans for this season.

He was left out of the club’s Premier League squad at the beginning of the campaign.

Fifth time lucky?

A number of other clubs showed interest in the Ghanaian. He was initially offered to Greek side Olympiakos, but they instead went with Oleg Reabciuk.

There was also interest from English clubs Watford and Middlesbrough, while a German and a Spanish club was interested as well. Rahman’s time at Chelsea is defined by loan spells and injuries. (h/t Football.london)

He has just 15 league appearances to his name at Chelsea in over 5 years. Hopefully, he finds his mojo in Greece and can lead PAOK to a second-place finish.

The Greek side are currently 4th in the table, just 3 points behind 2nd-placed Aris. Olympiakos, meanwhile, are well clear at the top.

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Rahman would become the 4th player to leave the club on loan in this window. Fikayo Tomori, Juan Castillo, and Danny Drinkwater are the other three to depart the club temporarily this month.