Chelsea have agreed a £14m fee for Augsburg left-back Abdul Rahman Baba, and have handed the Ghana international a four-year contract, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The young Bundesliga star will offer Jose Mourinho a back-up option to first-choice starter Cesar Azpilicueta, with the Blues being light in the area following the sale of Filipe Luis back to Atletico Madrid earlier this summer.
The Daily Telegraph claim Baba will sign a four-year contract worth £76k a week, although the former Greuther Fürth man may have to bide his time to secure a spot in Jose Mourinho’s starting eleven.
Spanish international Azpilicueta has been a virtual ever-present since leaving Marseille for Stamford Bridge back in August 2012, the 25-year-old having made 134 appearances for the Premier League side, and Baba could struggle to unseat the player from Mourinho’s line-up.
However, with John Terry now 34, one option for Mourinho could be to move Azpilicueta back to his original position of right-back and to push Branislav Ivanovic into the centre of the defence alongside Gary Cahill. This would allow Baba to feature in his natural position of left-back.
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Mourinho saw his side secure a 2-2 draw in their opening Premier League fixture at home to Swansea City and will hope for better when Chelsea entertain title rivals Man City on Sunday.
Chelsea have had an unusually quiet summer transfer window with Mourinho’s only meaningful signings coming in the form of a back-up keeper, Asmir Begovic, and a loaned in forward, Radamel Falcao.