Italian giants Roma have agreed terms Ghanaian left-back Abdul Rahman Baba and are close to a deal with German side Augsburg, the media in Italy has reported.
He turned 21 this week and had been in negotiations with the Giallorossi for some time.
According to Sky Sport Italia, Roma director of sport Walter Sabatini reached an agreement with Baba.
It’s believed the player will receive a five-year contract worth €2.2m per season.
This is an improvement on the €1.8 per season wages offered by Chelsea.
Roma still need to finalise the deal with his parent club Augsburg, as they are only prepared to reach €18m including bonuses.
Augsburg hope to pocket around €25m for the player.
The deal means Roma have offered Rahman annual wages €400,000 higher than Chelsea but neither clubs have met Augsburg's demands so far.
We've had ESPNFC suggesting that Baba Rahman's price tag was at least €20 million, but now the Italian journalists say that Augsburg are asking for €25 million to release the player.
Roma have made an offer of €18 million including bonuses, while if you trust these reports, Chelsea have put in a €15 million bid.
Chelsea can outbid Roma and also offer more attractive wages to Baba if they're willing to make a push, but it is getting worrying that the Blues will miss out on him.
Quality fullbacks are a rare commodity nowadays, especially young ones like the Ghanaian player Chelsea shouldn't waste a chance of reinforcing the position if Filipe Luis is on the way out.