Baba Rahman admitted he was extremely eager to leave Chelsea after disagreeing with former manager, Antonio Conte.
Speaking to Gary Al-Smith, Rahman explained why he was so desperate to depart Stamford Bridge shortly after signing for the Blues.
The Ghanaian joined Chelsea from Augsburg in 2015 for £23m (Goal).
He made a handful of Premier League appearances during his maiden campaign, but was mainly used as spare part.
Following Jose Mourinho’s dismissal and Conte’s arrival in 2016, things began to tumble downhill for the 26-year-old.
A loan move to Schalke began half a decade of loan spells away from Chelsea, which included a stint at Reims, Mallorca and PAOK, the latest club he called home.
Several injuries along the way stunted Rahman’s progress, as well as his opportunities to return to the Blues.
Rahman’s story
Six years on from his big-money move, the left-back revealed his reasons behind wanting away from the Blues.
“I left Chelsea because I didn’t get on well with Conte,” he said.
“When he arrived, I had a first meeting with him before the season ended. He told me how he wanted to play and how I can be in the team if I decide to stay.
“During the preseason, the way he was reacting to me, I didn’t like it.
“I went to speak to the sporting director and told him my worries.
“In the first meeting, he told me to keep calm and keep working hard. This was in London. Then we went to Austria, and it started getting worse.
“When we went to Austria, I spoke to the sporting director. I said I couldn’t take this anymore.
“They said what do I want to do? I said I would prefer to leave. They said the club doesn’t want to sell me. I said if that is so, I prefer to go on loan somewhere.”
Heard it all before
It is an all too familiar story of those who have walked through Cobham’s front door.
Begin with so much promise, fade away into the loan sphere, suffer set-backs and are eventually sold on.
Rahman remains on Chelsea’s books and could well come back for pre-season under Thomas Tuchel.
However, with three left-backs already in the squad, this scenario seems unlikely.
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