Chelsea warned over pursuit of Baba Rahman

Chelsea have been told they will have to pay big to secure the services of defender Baba Rahman during the summer transfer window.

With Brazilian full-back Filipe Luis on the verge of a return to Atletico Madrid, the Blues' search has already begun to find a suitable replacement on the left side.

Rahman appears to be the leading candidate, but Augsburg chairman Jonas Hoffman insists the club do not need "millions" from the sale of a first team player. Indeed, he is hopeful that the 11-cap Ghana international will remain in Germany and continue his development at the WWK Arena.

"We do not need the Baba millions. We have a good, solid team here," Hoffman told Bild, according to Goal.com.

"I am very optimistic that Baba will continue his great performances with us. He's made a very good impression at our recent training camp."

Pushed further on the matter, Hoffman added that he is a fan of Augsburg and is not interested in making money from the side. He'd rather watch a competitive team continue to defy the odds in the Bundesliga – as they did last season, finishing fifth.

However, he did offer some hope to Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, admitting that an offer over €20m ($14.1m) might get the transfer conversation started.

"Why keep Baba? I am an Augsburg fan. To me, it's more important that I spend the evening watching Augsburg win with a beer in my hand than when we have more money in the bank account," he added.

"There's no need to even talk about an offer under €20m, as I've previously stated."

Were Rahman to arrive in West London, he would be challenging Cesar Azpilicueta for a place in the starting line-up, with the Spanish international currently first choice at Stamford Bridge on the back of an impressive previous campaign.

He would be the fourth addition of the summer, with Asmir Begovic and young Brazilian Nathan joining permanently. Radamel Falcao has also arrived on loan from AS Monaco.