Rahman to Schalke - Defender joins on season long loan - Good decision by Chelsea

Baba Rahman has today signed for Schalke in the Bundesliga on a season long loan having been signed by Chelsea just one year ago. It's clear, he is not of the quality required to be in our first team.

I'm sorry to say it but he looked way out of his depth last season at times and I guess that because we are used to being particularly strong over recent years. Ashley Cole made the position his own first and foremost, followed by Cesar Azpilicueta so it's an area we didn't have concerns with.

However, those concerns came to light last season when Rahman was called upon because it was blatantly clear that he wasn't of the same standard and lacked experience playing in the Premier League and for a big club like Chelsea. It sounds stupid really but we often hear players talking about moving to another level when they come here, for Rahman it was the same but he didn't live up expectations for one reason or another.

Now, I do understand the opposite side of the argument, that people will ask "How on earth are you to gain experience without playing regularly?" My answer would be that he played enough times to understand the level that is required and trained for a season with everyone so he would have had an idea.

The problem I have is whoever identified Rahman as a signing in the first place? How much did we spend? I am sure it was something like £17m and he is out the door 12 months later? Questions should be asked here because over the past two/three years we have let the likes of Ryan Bertrand leave the club and Patrick Van Aanholt who both appear for their clubs week in, week out in the Premier League.

It will be interesting to see who Chelsea look to replace Rahman with. Will it be a centre back to revert to 3-5-2 or another left back? The question I ask here is who out there is good enough?

I wish Rahman luck back in Germany.