AYM ON MY WAY, CITY.. FOR £57M

CHELSEA flop Baba Rahman has sealed a loan return to German club Schalke.

The Ghanaian defender, who played 13 times in the Bundesliga last season before breaking his leg, is returning on a deal until the end of the season.

Rahman joined Chelsea for £14million in 2015 but made only 15 appearances. MANCHESTER CITY hope to complete the £57million signing of Athletic Bilbao defender Aymeric Laporte over the weekend.

City moved to trigger Laporte’s release clause after the French centre-back indicated his desire to finally leave Spain to play for Pep Guardiola’s runaway Premier League leaders.

Laporte, 23, turned down a move to the Etihad 18 months ago, but has now revived it after having a change of heart and deciding the time was right for him to move on.

City swooped for Laporte after deciding he represented a far better long-term investment than West Brom’s Jonny Evans, who, at the age of 30, was going to cost around £25m. The Blues are confident of getting the deal over the line by next Wednesday’s transfer deadline and may even complete it this weekend, once personal terms are agreed.

They were close to landing Laporte (right) in the summer of 2016 when his release clause stood at £40m, but he backed off the move late on and signed a new deal with Bilbao, which saw his release clause upped to £57m.

City skipper Vincent Kompany (near right) could not to be relied upon to stay fit, so City felt they needed a centre-back to provide competition and cover for John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi, with Eliaquim Mangala considered unable to fulfil that role.