What Does the Future Hold for Baba Rahman at Chelsea?

Baba Rahman finds himself in a difficult situation at Chelsea.

Signed for £21 million last summer, he's suffering a similar fate to Ashley Cole and Filipe Luis. Both were left-backs of significant regard, but neither could match Cesar Azpilicueta.

Despite playing out of position—Azpilicueta is a right-back by trade—the Spaniard has made the left side of defence his own at Stamford Bridge in the past few seasons.

That's meant us seeing Rahman more on the bench than the pitch since his arrival.

The Ghanaian has been limited to just 10 appearances in a Chelsea shirt after joining from Augsburg—the latest of those coming in Sunday's FA Cup victory against MK Dons.

He's had nowhere near the impact Chelsea fans were hoping for, with his mainly cup displays only giving us a glimpse of what we can expect.

Rahman should remain unperturbed, though. Things are gradually changing at Stamford Bridge and with that significant transfer fee behind him, he has much more credit than one may think right now.

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Not only that, at 21, Rahman has time on his side. Lady Time was a big part of why Cole and Luis failed to usurp Azpilicueta; the pair not being of an age where they could afford to wait around to win their place in the starting XI.

Cole's career at the highest level was up when Azpilicueta dethroned him, and Luis—now 30—simply couldn't take a gamble. Both needed to be playing games, while Rahman can wait.

Indeed, it's a comparison with Kurt Zouma that seems more apt.

Rahman and Zouma may be polar opposites as defenders, yet Rahman finds himself playing a similar role to that of his teammate in his debut campaign at Chelsea.

That John Terry-Gary Cahill partnership at the heart of the defence appeared impenetrable when Zouma arrived back from his six-month loan with club Saint-Etienne. Zouma has gradually chipped away at it, though, and seems to have edged in front of Cahill as Terry's preferred defensive partner.

Like Rahman now, it was cup matches where Zouma had to impress, which he did. The French youngster used games against Liverpool in the Capital One Cup semi-final to demonstrate he had qualities that were lacking elsewhere in this Chelsea squad.

Those qualities were his rapid pace to snuff out Raheem Sterling's threat, coupled with his incredible rate of recovery to cover for others at the back.

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It was from there that Zouma started to become the player we're seeing now. it wasn't so much a coming of age, yet the huge leaps he took in his development were significant to the point Jose Mourinho was soon comparing him to Chelsea legend Marcel Desailly.

We need to remind ourselves that MK Dons are struggling at the wrong end of the table in the Championship. Rahman's display against them on Sunday was positive for plenty of reasons, though—notably his ability to get forward and join attacks.

Azpilicueta severely restricts Chelsea in that regard. He's defensively sound, yet going forward he has a tendency to struggle in the final third. It's there that his limited left foot can be restrictive.

Rahman has no such concerns. Playing in his natural position, he forced the MK Dons defence back and was often found in danger areas, causing problems.

The biggest beneficiary of this was Oscar, who scored his first Chelsea hat-trick in the 5-1 win.

On paper at least, Oscar was the left-sided player in Chelsea's three-man attacking midfield. So often he was found in central areas because of Rahman's willingness to push forward on the left flank.

It allowed him to link up with Diego Costa and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, producing the sort of performance Guus Hiddink will want to see more of.

Oscar was a big threat and played with a freedom we have rarely seen from him in his Chelsea career.

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When Azpilicueta features, it often means Chelsea's wide man—normally Eden Hazard on that left side—having to maintain that width. It can be too ridged, and the fluidity of this team isn't quite what it should be.

That's a problem that has dogged Chelsea for some time. Rahman's hope should be to offer a solution to it, like Zouma did when Chelsea required something else in those central areas.

It's defensively where the 21-year-old must improve. Azpilicueta is superior in every aspect of that side of the game. Rahman needs to add that discipline to his game, as going forward he is exciting to watch.

Just as he needs to adopt patience when defending, Rahman must remain vigilant in waiting for his chance to become a Chelsea regular.

Chelsea invested £21 million for good reason, and Rahman has the qualities to deliver on that.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes