Baba Rahman reveals how he nearly quit football

Ghana defender Baba Rahman has opened up on how he came close to calling time on his football career.

Five years after making a dream move to then-reigning Premier League champions Chelsea in 2015, Rahman has not had it easy with injuries.

In 2012, 18-year-old left-back Abdul Rahman Baba left Ghana for Germany where he immediately made an impression on the football world.

He became a regular starter at Greuter Furthand, two years later, at Augsburg who finished fifth, well above expectations, in the 2014-15 season.

It was after this campaign when Chelsea decided to pounce and signed Baba for €26m as competition for Cesar Azpilicueta.

Rahman joined José Mourinho’s men but that season the team just fell apart.

He managed to play 23 times for the Blues.

Baba left on loan for Schalke and started brightly but in January 2017, he suffered a severe knee injury at the Africa Cup of Nations with Ghana.

Since then, it was an injury hell for him, as he did not play a single game until May 2018.

Schalke liked what they saw in his first months here so they brought him back to Germany: it was there where the left-back returned to the pitch in the last game of the 2017/18 season.

After playing 2 matches at the start of the following campaign, however, he fell out of favour and never played for Schalke again returning to Chelsea in January 2019.

Since then, Baba was loaned out to French side Reims (11 games, 1 goal) and Spanish outfit Mallorca (2 games).

During the January transfer market, Rahman signed for Greek side PAOK in a bid to get his career back on track.

“It was 2019. I just wanted to stop when I first heard the news about my injury. That was the first time I slept early in my life,” he told Sheikh Toufic in an interview.

“Normally, I take time before retiring to bed but when I heard the news, I passed out after just under five minutes. I wanted to call it quit but after making some calls and putting some things into consideration I felt like I still I had a chance. I feel it like I could still be on the pitch doing what I love most.”

Rahman is gradually rediscovering his form in Greece, having scored 1 goal in 5 appearances for PAOK.

He also netted his debut goal for Ghana last Sunday during the West African nation’s final match for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against São Tomé and Principe.